Legends of Ninjago 4: Chronicles of the Anacondrai
by TRikiD
Summary: Zane's team and closest friends were the most affected by his sacrifice. But hey, while Jay and Cole are still rivals, Lloyd and Kate have started a family, and everyone has gone their separate ways, why not start an event that will change everything?
1. Chapter 1

**OMG, guys, I am so excited that I finally get to write and post this story!**

 **And I would just like to say that my very first story that I ever posted on his site, which is Legends of Ninjago: Rise of Evil, has nearly 3,000 views, guys! I just wanted to thank you all for reading my stories!**

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Legends of Ninjago 4: Chronicles of the Anacondrai

Chapter 1 – Resurrection

 _There was nothing but darkness everywhere, but there was something in the black void. It was obviously a beast of some sort because there was growling echoing off the walls. And the creature was right to growl because not five seconds later did a huge patch of ice suddenly fall from above. A lot of powdery snow fell with the icy-platform, and the snow covered the human-shaped figure that originally caused the ice to fall. And from above where the figure fell, was a pale moonlight shining through the hole, illuminating the snow, the ice, and the figure's shiny, metal skin as his eyes glowed blue. When the figure stood, he heard the growling…_

Out on the coast of Ninjago, when the sun was hot, high and bright, where a jungle would've met the ocean if not for a sandy beach to divide them…but the jungle was not lifeless, as an old enemy had returned.

Nindroids. The said evil robot army was in a small fleet in a clearing in the jungle, but they were not alone. And they knew they weren't alone as they searched for their target, who they sensed was very close by, but they knew he'd be hard to find because of who he is.

A Nindroid with a loaded, high-tech gun was skimming an area of tall, fresh, green grass because he saw movement, quick as a snake, in the patch. And the Nindroid stayed there for quite a while until another Nindroids nearby beeped, asking for the first one's assistance. The Nindroid reluctantly walked to aid its other droid while giving the patch the death glare before looking away. Unbeknownst to the Nindroid, it was so close to finding their target.

When the target knew the time was right, the large green figure zipped from the patch of grass, but he didn't go undetected because he raised the Nindroids' awareness as they became alert and they all raised their guns.

One by one, the target moved throughout the fleet like Predator; dragging them and destroying them in the cover of the jungle, kicking them and throwing ninja-stars at them. Eventually the outside-fleet was defeated.

The whole time, the Nindroids were hunting Lloyd the Green Ninja…but now he knew he had the indoor-fleet of Nindroids to face, and so he pressed on in the mission.

Lloyd walking through a dark tunnel, but it wouldn't be dark for long when he snagged a trip wire with his foot, and suddenly many intimidating red lasers, running from wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor, appeared out of thin-air.

But being a ninja, Lloyd had it in the bag as he effortlessly dodged the lasers by jumping, ducking and barrel-rolling them all. But the mission was not over yet. When he reached the other side, there was the indoor-Nindroids fleet right in front of him.

But even when the Nindroids began to fire, Lloyd just started using his green-colored Spinjitzu to attack them all. But when he was left with the last Nindroid, the droid had a plan to get Lloyd as he fired a laser from his gun, and right after Lloyd destroyed the last Nindroid, he noticed that the Nindroid's fired laser had struck a thick chain…and that chain was connected to more chains that were wrapped around a huge boulder. And now that those chains were broken, the boulder started rolling towards Lloyd, pushing the Green Ninja towards his objective as he turned and sprinted for the hole in the ground, grabbed the chain on the ground and wrapped it tightly around his waist.

At the last second, Lloyd made it to the hole and dove in. and the chain was to keep him from landing on the spiked floor below. But he needed to be in this chamber because sitting on a lonesome pedestal was a small, plastic prototype of the Over Lord's golden armor and mech.

Since Lloyd clearly couldn't use the floor to get to the pedestal in front of him, he began to jerk his body, making him swing back in forth; him getting closer with each forward swing…but then the mission was failed when the prototype was actually a hollow-gram, and it disappeared, and even the spikes disappeared beneath the floor, then becoming a spike-less floor.

"For your first try, you got surprisingly far, Lloyd," Cyrus Borg kindly commented.

Lloyd continued to hang from the chain around his torso, he looked up and saw Sensei Wu, who was pushing Cyrus in on his wheel-chair, and he also saw Kate…and his two twin, preteen daughters.

The twin with short brown hair that only reached her shoulders and purple eyes, like her mom, seemed more joyful and confident, while the girl who also had purple eyes like her mom, but her dad's long blonde hair that ran down to her waist, seemed shy as she hid behind Kate, but both of them had Kate's sparkling purple eyes…but they were not blind.

"Jeez, Dad, I thought you were the legendary, all-powerful Green Ninja," the girl with the brown hair scoffed.

"Sororal," Kate said angrily.

"Sorry…you were pretty good…I guess," Sororal mumbled under her breath.

"I think you did absolutely wonderful, Father," the blonde said in a voice softer than Fluttershy's as she barely stepped out from behind Kate and smiled.

"Aw, that was very sweet of you to say, Niveous," Kate said softly to her shy daughter, and then she smiled back at her dangling husband, "let me get you down, Hon," Kate said, and fired some ice at the chain, the cold element soon engulfing and instantly freezing a small spot on the links, and then that's when Lloyd struggled as he knew the ice would make it easier for the chain to break, and it soon did as he fell landed face-first onto the floor.

"Kate, what did I say about using ice?" Lloyd grumbled as he stood up and removed the chains.

"Look, Lloyd, we all miss Zane, but we need to move on…and that includes you because, if he could, I'm sure Zane wouldn't want us to grief over his noble deed. Ok?" Kate said softly, and even gave Lloyd a hug. And he needed it when he hugged back.

But then Cyrus cleared his throat, interrupting the moment.

"Despite how good you did, Lloyd…I-I didn't expect you to be so 'rough' on my security-droids," Cyrus said as he knew that Lloyd nearly destroyed all of the Nindroids that he had apparently re-programed to guard the chambers underground.

"Any other way, Cyrus, I don't think anyone could get to the Over Lord's golden armor and mech if I couldn't," Lloyd said as he began to wheel the said cripple out of the room, everyone else following him.

"Where did you even truly hide the armor and mech anyway, Cyrus?" Kate questioned.

"Wouldn't you agree that it is quite common-sense to keep a secret like that best left uncovered?" Cyrus asked with a grin, "but I thought all of you ninja were supposed to show up to this drill."

"Yes, Lloyd, why didn't the others show up?" Wu added.

"U-uh…" Lloyd tried to find the right words to sound kind.

"T-they couldn't really make it," Kate cut-in for Lloyd's sake, "they all…got distracted."

Then they all just continued to walk further through the huge room.

"Zane's sacrifice was truly devastating, even if it was noble…I can't even recall the last time I spoke with P.I.X.A.L. since Zane's memorial," Cyrus sighed sadly.

"When we focus on what is missing from within our lives, it blinds us from seeing what we already possess…if you will. You can all either let Zane's absence drive you apart from each other…or you can let it bring you closer; it is your choice," Wu said firmly.

In what sounded like a game-show(like The Price is Right), there was a dark room with an absolutely huge crowd as they cheered and all clapped rhythmically. But then when a man in blue…and clearly wearing too much make-up on his face…stepped out into the spot-light, the crowd's cheering and clapping only got louder and out of order.

"HEEEELLOOOOOOO, PEOPLE OF NINJAAAAAGOOOOO!"

Jay was excited to hear the cheering and clapping love of the crowd that loved the game-show he was hosting, as he was dressed in blue pants and a blue tuxedo.

Suddenly more spot-lights turned on, and it revealed an obstacle course(think Wipe-Out)that was behind Jay.

"IN THIS HERE COURSE, WE'LL FIND OUT WHO WILL EITHER BECOME NINJAGO'S GREATEST HERO—LIKE ME—OR IF THEY'LL BECOME ABOSUTELY HUMLIATED! AND HOW FAST WILL IT ALL HAPPEN?!"

"IN. A. FLAAAAAASH!" the crowd answered Jay's questioned, and then the said blue Lightning Ninja threw away his mic and created strands of lightning in his hands, in which he used to literally boost him into the air and onto the platform where the show's contestant waited.

"Today's contestant is a tiring mother of four! Give it up for Kathy, folks! Now, Kathy, if I remember correctly, you're a returning contestant, AND you were defeated by The Gauntlet the last time, so what makes you think this time will by different?!" Jay asked happily as an assistant came up and gave Jay a new mic, and he held it up to Kathy.

"BECAUSE, JAY, NINJA NEVER QUIIIIIIIIT!"

And then the crowd cheered to Kathy's reply.

"Uh-huh! Alright, go, Kathy, GOOOO!" Jay called, and then the music in the studio picked up, and Kathy stood in a stance to get ready to jump.

Kathy jumped towards the pink and white striped ropes, and swung from each; having a little trouble when getting to the last. When she made it past the ropes, she was now on a giant pink roller, and it started to roll as soon as she stepped onto it. But it only got worse when punching-gloves came out of the wall with mechanical limbs, and tried to punch Kathy off. She managed to didge the first two gloves on the first roller…but her luck ran out on the second when she was finally hit by a glove when she didn't pay attention.

When Kathy fell a few good way down to the floor, the crowd gasped, and Jay didn't want to be sued so he rushed to Kathy's aid, and he helped her up.

"THAT…was better than last time!" Kathy said, and then her legs suddenly gave out, but she remained conscious and continued to laugh hysterically.

After the show was over, Jay was in his dressing room, sitting in front of his lit-up, vanity mirror…but the said Lightning Ninja didn't look so happy as he stared at a framed photo of him and the other Ninja…and that included Zane.

"Ninja never quit…huh, Zane," Jay sighed matter-of-factly, and then he eventually put the photo down, and hid his face in his arms on his desk…and then he actually started to sob.

And not many seconds later, he suddenly jerked his head up and screamed and wept as there was black eye-liner running down his face. And then he gave up and suddenly banged his head back onto his desk.

"We knew you'd probably be the first to break…out of the team, at least."

Jay was startled so bad that he jumped out of his seat, but he turned that it was only Kate who spoke to him, and Lloyd was with her.

"Ok, I know we're all ninja, but still, how did you get in here?!"

"I think the more important question is why are you wearing make-up?" Lloyd asked with a grin.

"Ah-ah-ah! It is NOT make-up! How many times do I have to say it?! It's concealer…and what are you talking about 'team'?! I am NEVER fighting along-side Cole! That girl-stealing, back-stabbing, black-hearted, SON OF A-!"

But then Lloyd put a reassuring hand on Jay's shoulder, making him snap out of his rage.

"Jay, look me in the eye. We're like brothers, right…and so is Cole," Lloyd said softly as he looked Jay in the eyes.

"I highly doubt it," Jay scoffed as he smacked Lloyd's hand away.

"We thought you were the Master of Lightning…not the Master of Lighting…and I think you should know that Nya speaks about you to me all the time," Kate tried to reassure, but it didn't work as Jay only ignored them by sitting back down at his mirror.

And that made Lloyd and Kate look at each other, and then they shook their heads in sorrow and disappointment.

"Ok, Jay…we won't force you. But if you were to actually change your mind, then come find us; you know where we'll be," Kate said softly, and then she and her husband departed from Jay's dressing-room.

Jay sighed sadly again, and grabbed a wipe to clean off his face from running eye-liner. But after he looked back in the mirror to check if his face was completely, which it was, he only glared at his reflection, and suddenly punched the mirror, easily shattering it.

Clouds covered what looked like a dead part of the land in the snowy mountains because there were loggers cutting down and logging trees…and one of the loggers was Cole as the said Master of Earth was high up in a tree, using nothing but a mere axe to cut off limbs. He was also not wearing ninja attire, like Jay, but rather he was wearing torn jeans, a winter hat and an unbuttoned lumber-jack shirt that showed off his six-pack.

"Ya know, Cole, I thought being the Master of Earth meant you were close with nature…not against it!"

Cole heard Kate's voice…from above? So he looked up to see Kate and Lloyd sitting on two separate branches above him.

"Maybe I should've gotten a golden axe instead of a scythe. Who knew I was so good with one?" Cole ask with a smile and jammed his axe into another limb, making the cut in it deeper.

"Ya know, we're all still a team here, Cole!" Lloyd called down…and that made Cole frown and stop.

"Well, I'm tired of what we had to fight as ninja. Tired of Serpentine, dark lords, Nindroids…and Jay. No one out here knows who you are OR what you've done in the past…and that's why I want to stay here."

"But Kate's right, you're destroying lives that grow from the earth that YOU control…and who ever heard of an Earth Master working high up in trees anyway?" Lloyd asked, getting a little annoyed with Cole's stubbornness.

"Look, guys, I'm sorry…but you need to get it through your heads that THIS is my life now," Cole said sadly and gripped his axe.

But from below, where they were loading a huge tree trunk onto a truck's trailer(say that five or ten times fast)…but there was an error when the chain holding up the trunk from the crane suddenly snapped. And when the trunk fell, it bumped and caused all the other loaded logs to fall, and the all rolled towards the other lumber-jacks as they ran away.

But when Cole noticed this, he jumped into action and pounded the ground with his bare fists. Seconds later, huge rocks instantly rose from the earth, stopping the logs and saving the other lumber-jacks as they cheered for Cole…but Cole wasn't taking pride in what he just did as he sneered and turned to leave to go home.

"When you actually change your mind, Cole, you know where we'll be!" Cole heard Kate call, but when he looked up, Kate and Lloyd were no longer up in the trees, or visible anywhere for that matter.

"WELCOME TO THE SSSSSLITHER PIT!"

A Hypnobrai was standing in the middle of a large room(just picture a bar)as there were Skullkin(the remaining Skullkin from the first story; no, they were not all killed off)citizens of Ninjago City and Serpentine as they all acted drunk and cheered.

"In the left corner, we have our undefeated champion: Kai the Flaming Show-Gun!" the Hypnobrai announced, and the drunk Serpentine, people and Skullkin, and they all looked into the left corner to find the said Master of Fire…except he looked WAY different. Kai was literally wearing ridiculous, red wrestling attire, and that included a stupid mask.

Kai was trying to look all cool as he leaned against a support-beam in his corner, and slowly looked up.

"And in the right corner, we have…Kruncha, a Sssskullkin," the Hypnobrai announced with A LOT less enthusiasm than with Kai.

In the right corner, Kruncha was having his bony shoulders messaged by his pal Knuckles, and then Kruncha stood up, and he and Kai entered the ring.

But the fight didn't last even ten seconds when Kai used his fiery Spinjitzu, and instantly and effortlessly defeated Kruncha; the said idiot Skullkin even fell apart(because he's already dead).

"You dick-head! I said not to go down in the first round, NOT to go down first!" Knuckles yelled angrily as he picked up some of his friend's bony body parts, and kicked Kruncha's head away.

"And our champion remainsss: Kai the Flaming Show-Gun!" the Hypnorbrai cheered, along with the crowd, as he lifted Kai's arm into the air.

"It's not the 'Flaming' Show-Gun! It's the FUCKING RED Show-Gun, for the last fucking time!" Kai shouted angrilly into the Hypnobrai's face and yanked his arm away; eventually trudging over to the bar.

"Gimme the usual," Kai growled at the bar-tender…who was apparently a Fangpyre.

The Fangpyre bar-tender said nothing, and just poured Kai his drink, then sliding it across the counter, in which Kai grabbed it before it flew off the corner he was sitting at. And he lifted the drink to his mouth, and took a sip.

"Drinking doesn't solve problems, Kai, it only creates them."

Kai nearly did a spit-take when he heard Kate's voice, and then he immediately spun around in his seat, and found none other than Lloyd and Kate standing there.

"Why the hell are you guys here in a place like this? Don't you have kids to look after now?!" Kai asked angrily and turned back around to look away from them.

"We left them with Wu, but that's not important, Kai. We get the fact that the fire inside still tells you to fight bad guys, and so you come to places like this…but the team still needs the Fire Ninja," Lloyd said softly as he and Kate sat on both sides of him.

"Oh yeah? Well, he's gone…and so's the Ice Ninja…i-it just…should've been me," Kai sighed sadly, and hung his head low in sorrow.

"You thought the same thing when we still didn't know who was destined to be the Green Ninja. First it was that, and now this. If you keep pulling yourself down like this, then you'll never be able to move on," Kate explained.

Kai then thought he'd protest, but when he looked up, Lloyd and Kate were gone.

"You know where we are if you change your mind," Kate said.

In the park in the middle of Ninjago City(no longer very technological)…and the titanium statue of Zane still stood, but it was covered in moss and rust from all the time. And Kai was walking towards the shrine, and sadly looked up.

And when he did look up after resting his hand on it, he noticed Zane's falcon once again sitting on its shoulder…just like it did when Zane was still alive.

There was a huge, bright and rainbow-colored sign that made Chen's Noodle House well known when you passed by it.

"There's only ONE Chen's Noodle Shop!" the animated sign of a man with a black goatee, obviously the owner of the restaurant, said every few minutes as it lifted a bowl of neon-noodles.

And Kai shook his head in embarrassment as he walked into the kiddy restaurant. And when he got in, he looked around for Lloyd and/or Kate.

"Over here, Uncle Kai!"

Kai heard Sororal's energetic voice, and he looked over to the last sets of booths. And there he saw Kate sitting in one booth with her daughters, and then he saw Lloyd sitting at the edge of a bigger, round booth that was just across Kate and the kids' as the said Green Ninja leaned out for Kai to find him.

But when Kai got to Lloyd's booth, he was shocked to see Cole and Jay sitting at the same booth, but the two crossed their arms and wouldn't look at each other from across the table…but it wasn't surprising that Star was there too because she needed a job and she worked at the restaurant as a cashier.

"Star? Cole? Jay? You're ALL here?" Kai asked with surprise.

"Meh, I needed something to do since my shift already ended," Star shrugged.

"Kai, you're a bitch. You know how long we had to wait for you, and at the same time, could NOT get any food because Green Machine here said no?!" Cole asked angrily, but Kai ignored him.

"What's this about, Lloyd?" Kai sighed as he took a seat.

"Look, I know you all don't wanna be here in this place…but I had to compromise for my kids, alright? Anyway, I gathered you all here because…I-I thought it would be best for us all to…get a new teammate," Lloyd sighed, and NO ONE liked what Lloyd suggested.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Star yelled angrily.

"No way!" Jay shouted in rage.

"What the actual-hell is wrong with you?!" "Kai shouted.

"Zane is irreplaceable!" Cole added angrily.

"We know, we know, and we miss and care about him too…but what other way can we build this team back up?" Kate asked from across the tables.

"Ya know, I think there isn't and should NOT be a team without Zane," Kai said angrily, but there was still sorrow in his voice.

And Kai's statement made everyone, even Kate, Sororal and Niveous sulk their heads in sadness.

But then the sad moment was ruined when a trio of bad-ass men with purple, white and black, snake-like tattoos running up their arms, legs and necks; their teeth were even sharper than most…like snake fangs. And they would either have dark hair with dark purple streaks, or a giant, black Mo-Hawk…which was the apparent leader of the trio had…and they caught Jay's attention first.

"Uh, guys, hate to ruin the moment, but we've got trouble," Jay said in a hushed voice.

The gang walked up to the line to the cash-register and pushed through the very short line of people, and the elderly man for the cashier was scared when the leader removed his sun glasses, revealing not only purple snake eyes, but also his missing left eye, and that had a shiny, silver orb as a replacement.

The cashier knew what they wanted, and so he opened the register, and they immediately snatched all of the money out of it. And then they pulled the old man out from behind the counter, and smashed him against a table, leaving him defenseless…but not while the ninja were around.

"Oh, that is it! No one comes into my restaurant without my say-so!" Star yelled angrily and stood up from the booth.

"Excuse me, sir," Star said, and they trio looked up, allowing the old man-cahier to escape, "didn't Mommy ever teach you that it's very rude to TOUCH OTHER PEOPLE'S FOOD?!"

And that was when it told the snake-trio that it was time for a fight, but the ninja already knew that as they were no longer sitting back at their booth…except for Kate as she stayed back to watch the kids.

Cole grabbed a pair of chop-sticks, clicked them together, and then comically beckoned the snake-trio to fight him. And they gladly went into a small fight…and the ninja were winning.

But Kai and a member of the snake-trio were on the conveyer belt that brought the food to the tables, and one of the other trio members pushed the acceleration button, hoping to knock Kai off his feet. But, being a ninja, Kai was still able to fight as he karate kicked a bowl of hot noodles up into the air, and it landed into the man's tattooed face, burning his flesh and he lost his balance and fell, and was also unfortunate enough to fall onto and break his left arm.

"Ok, I admit it: we've still got it," Kai admitted in the midst of the fight.

The leader was still facing Cole, but a flying bowl of little rice-cakes came flying off the fast conveyer belt, and Cole managed to pluck a cake with his chop-sticks and popped in his mouth.

"Mm! It IS true what they say: everything is better on a full stomach!" Cole said, surprisingly happy since they're technically still fighting.

"Uh, Mom, I'm scared!" Niveous cried, and it got the attention of the snake-trio's leader, and he grinned as he sneakily passed the ninja and headed towards Kate and the kids' table.

"Stay back, Savage!" Kate roared as she stood in front of her daughters to protect them. But the man only ginned and chuckled darkly as he licked his lips, and then he started to walk up to Kate, but she held her ground.

And he would've gotten closer if a sharp table-knife hadn't suddenly come up from behind him and was held up to his neck, so he stopped and froze.

"Step away from my family," Lloyd growled darkly as he continued to hold the knife to the man's neck…but then the snake-fanged man grinned evilly.

And before anyone knew it, the man viciously grabbed Lloyd's arm, and flipped him; his back hitting the floor it sounded like it nearly broke.

"Daddy!" both Sororal and Niveous cried in unison with worry, and Kate helped Lloyd back to his feet as he held the back of his head in pain.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," Lloyd grunted, but then he remembered the snake-trio and looked to find them retreating out the back door, and the Mo-Hawked leader grinned evilly back at them before going out the door.

"Get back here, mother-fuckers!" Star called angrily, and she, along with the other ninja and even the kids, ran after them. But when they got out to the other side of the door, they saw nothing but a dark, empty ally.

"Dammit, they got away," Cole growled angrily.

"Maybe…but what's that?" Lloyd said as he pointed to a faint light at the end of the ally. They all walked towards the light in confusion, and sitting there was a table, with two lit candles, a small pedestal with four fortune-cookies…and a paper with indistinct writing on it, as the paper was held to the wall by a knife above the fortune-cookies.

"What is this? Did they set it up?" Kai questioned.

"What's the note say?" Cole asked, and Lloyd reached for the paper, and ripped it from the knife. And after the said Green Ninja re-read the letters on the paper many times, his eyes went wide with amazement.

"It's about Zane…i-it says he's…alive," Lloyd finally read aloud, and everyone gasped.

"The thugs weren't trying to deliver a message to the people in the restaurant…they were trying to send us a message…to us," Kate pointed out.

"What…how does it say Zane's a live?" Jay questioned.

"In words, genies," Lloyd replied dryly.

"But why would the thugs want us here?" Kai suddenly asked.

"If this is a joke, it's NOT FUNNY!" Cole grunted.

"This is not a setup, Cole," Kate reassured.

"But, hey, look: fortune cookies!" Jay said happily, and grabbed a cookie from his mouth, only for Kai smack it from his hands, and it broke in two when it hit the ground.

"Don't just eat it!" Lloyd snapped.

"Well, what supposed to do, dance with it?!"

But then everyone froze when they heard crunching and munching. Turns out, it was Cole who was chewing…and one of the four cookies was gone.

"What? I was starving since you didn't let me eat anything," Cole protested after swallowing.

"Uh…there are little pieces of paper inside of the cookies called fortunes, Uncle Cole; you're not supposed to eat those," Sororal said flatly.

"Oh…is that why they're called that?" Cole asked with confusion.

"Uh, yeah, ok…" Jay said as he leaned down and picked up his fortune cookie, and wasn't really surprised to see the fortune. But when the said Blue Ninja read his fortune, he gasped.

"What is it, Jay?" Kai asked.

"You're not gonna believe me if I told you. Read your fortunes!" Jay said with surprise and reread his fortune over and over.

Kai and Lloyd then reluctantly and confusedly grabbed the last two cookies, and cracked them open to read the little papers.

"What the-? It says 'Master Chen has invited you to his Tournament of Elements'," Lloyd read aloud, and Kai's fortune said the same thing.

"Wait, Chen, the same Chen that runs this famous noodle shop, is a master?!" Cole asked in surprise.

"Hold on, it has more. 'It is of utmost importance that you make an appearance at the loading docks before midnight tonight, that you tell no one, and bring no weapons with you…if you want to ever see your friend again," Kai read aloud.

But then something odd happened: the little papers just exploded and turned into little purple clouds. And then they all slowly looked at Cole.

But they didn't hear anything, but they did see Cole flinch and grab his stomach, and he then belched out a little purple cloud.

"Looks like I was invited too," Cole said with a grin, but everyone ignored his joke since it was not the time to be horsing around.

"Do you think this is a scam?" Lloyd questioned.

"It all does sound too good to be true," Kai added.

"But what if it's not? What if they're telling the truth, and they can help bring Zane back to us?" Jay pointed out.

"This whole 'Tournament of Elements' event makes me think that there's a lot about this 'Chen' guy we don't know," Lloyd growled.

"Mom? Mom, are you ok?" Niveous asked softly, and that got everyone's attention, but when they turned, they saw how scared Kate looked. But then Kate shook her head.

"Y-yeah, I just…never knew that a noodle guy like Chen would be a master. But the point is, I think we should trust them. If it means we'll get Zane back, it's worth it," Kate said firmly.

The sun was setting over the forest in which Sensei Garmadon's monastery still stood.

The said sensei walked into the main room, but there were no students, instead, he found Nya and Wu as they were going over some blueprints on a computer monitor.

"You said you were planning on fixing Destiny's Bounty, correct Nya?" Garmadon asked with a smile.

"Sure are…and it would be great if we could get some help," Nya replied.

"Sure. I may not have four hands anymore, but I'll help in any way I can," Garmadon said kindly, and then walked off.

Inside a room with a queen-sized bed, Lloyd was packing some necessities(clothes, etc.), and he then reached for some swords that were mounted on the wall, but then he stopped.

"No weapons, right," Lloyd sighed. So he decided he had what he needed, zipped up his suit-case, and headed out of his room.

And as Lloyd walked down the hall, he walked by his daughters' room, and stopped to look in at Kate as she was tucking them in; she was at the edge of Niveous' bed, as Sororal was already passed out.

"Mommy?"

Yes, Sweetie?"

"The paper Daddy read said that they have a friend…did they really mean Uncle Zane?"

"Oh, Honey, I honestly don't know…but your Uncle Zane was a good…'man'…he knew what he had to do, and if he hadn't sacrificed himself…you and Sororal might not have been able to live the good life you have now…or not have been born."

"I hope you find him," Niveous yawned after Kate leaned down and kissed her forehead, and then she turned onto her side, and closed her eyes.

"Me too, my little snow flake. Good night," Kate said in a voice like silk.

Lloyd couldn't help but smile softly at the family he had successfully created, but then he remembered his original objective, and continued down the hall.

But then he was stopped by his own dad.

"All hands on deck, Son," Garmadon joked.

"W-what?"

"I'm going to go and help Wu and Nya with fixing The Bounty, and I was wondering if you wanted to join me."

"O-oh, uh, yeah…sorry, Dad, but I can't. The guys and I actually had a fishing trip planned for this evening…yeah. You understand that I can't just rain-check on them, right? Great! G'night, Dad!" Lloyd lied as he wore a fake smile and then ran off.

But Garmadon smelled something fishy about this, and he growled in suspicion.

"Never thought Chen would rise again," Garmadon said under his breath.

The night was young as it blanketed over the coast of Ninjago, as Lloyd was hauling his suit-case across a pier, and he heard a fog-horn blow a few times in the distance. But when he looked out in front of him, he saw that he and the ninja weren't alone.

Like Lloyd, the other ninja were all wearing a ninja gi of their respective colors. Even Star was there, as she was wearing a dark purple gi.

"I told you we shouldn't have worn our gis; we look ridicules!" Jay whined as he and the other ninja pulled down their ninja masks from their faces.

The ninja then looked around at the strangers around them.

"The only reason to show up to a Tournament of Elements is if you have elemental powers…ya think they also have powers like us?" Kai asked quietly.

"Why else would they be here?"

The ninja heard a familiar voice, and were shocked to see Kate AND Garmadon walking out onto the pier towards them.

"Kate? Dad? What are you doing here?" Lloyd questioned.

"The fortunes said not to tell anyone, Lloyd," Cole reminded Lloyd angrily.

"I didn't!" Lloyd protested.

"I figured it out when I smelled Chen's Noodle Shop on you," Garmadon said flatly.

"B-but, Kate, why are you coming along? You didn't get an invitation, and we're not connected by the Anacondrai's Curse anymore," Lloyd asked his wife with worry.

"I know, I know…look, I haven't been completely honest. Chen and I have some unfinished business, so I have to go with you, and you're not stopping me," Kate explained firmly, "and don't worry about the kids, Misako is looking after them."

"OK, ok…but you're always staying right by my side," Lloyd sighed in defeat, but was then caught off guard when Kate pecked his lips.

"Where would I be?" Kate joked softly.

"Guys, look," Jay interrupted, as he was pointing out at a huge, three story boat(lower deck included)boat that was powered by a giant water-wheel at the back.

The boat then slowed and stopped at the pier, as a couple of men, with tattoos and hair-dos the same as the thugs at the restaurant, unloaded a walk-board from the boat, and stretched it out to the pier.

A tall man with sleek, charcoal hair, dark eyes, and blood-red clothes with dark purple and golden snake designs, walked out onto the walk-board, getting everyone; attention.

"Watch your step across the walk-board, Madame," the man said after he stepped onto the pier, and everyone lined up in a single file.

The woman he was talking to was the first one in line, but she decided to look back and see how long the line behind her was. Strands of her dark red hair fell from her orange, sun-burst colored jacket hood, and her bright green eyes sparkled…at least in Kai's mind.

Thee said fire ninja was making googly eyes at the red-head.

"Let's not get too distracted, Kai. Got it?" Lloyd growled, but Kai barely paid any attention.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…sure," Kai sighed as he brushed Lloyd off, and just kept walking as the line moved.

"Oh, I know that face anywhere," Kate whispered to Lloyd.

"What do you mean?" Lloyd questioned.

"You made that exact same face towards me when we were younger. There's no pulling Kai out of his mind now," Kate replied.

The man with the sleek, black hair, grinned even more when the ninja were the last ones to the load the boat.

"Ah, if it isn't Ninjago's greatest hero's. my master will be most pleased that you have accepted his invitation…and I'm sure Spinjitzu will give you quite the upper-hand in his tournament," the man growled happily.

"Well, you should know that we're not going to fight; we're just going to get a friend back," Jay said firmly.

"I wouldn't be so petty, Master Jay," the man said as he suddenly snatched a pair of nun chucks from Jay's bag, "everyone you see here on this boat has something they want."

"Uh, those aren't nun chucks," Jay blurted out. But the man ony grinned more as he threw the nun chucks into the ocean.

Then Jay lead the rest of the ninja onto the boat in fear, but when Lloyd and Garmadon were the last ones to get on, Garmadon stopped his son.

"You really shouldn't be going, Son," Garmadon whispered.

"Why not?" Lloyd asked angrily.

"Chen is a man that you cannot trust. No matter what he may tell you, you can never really believe him," Garmadon replied firmly, but then the black-haired man suddenly clutched Lloyd's arm and pulled him up onto the walk-board, pushing him towards the boat.

"From what I've been hearing, you're a sensei now? Gosh, it's been so long," the man sighed and turned away.

"Clouse. Has Chen still chosen you?" Garmadon asked angrily, making the man, who was apparently called Clouse from Garmadon, turn and glare at the old man.

"Dad, I'm sorry, but I gotta go. This is about Zane!" Lloyd called as he walked back onto the boat.

"Good choice, Son," Clouse said darkly, and then beckoned the men to pull the walk-board back onto the boat after he was then on the boat as well.

"You can't get rid of me that easily, Clouse," Garmadon growled, and then bounded off pf the pier, and onto the boat, even accidently knocking one of the tattooed men into the ocean…but no one bothered to help him.

"Hmm…you'd better get ready, Garmadon, because the tournament will be an event you won't soon forget," Clouse sighed in defeat, "NOW LET'S SHIP OUT!"

And with that, the water-wheel began to spin, propelling the boat forward.

The ninja thought they'd take a walk around the boat, and as they did, they saw how each person occupied themselves in very different ways.

There was a buff man, with black a grey Mongolian armor, and huge iron gauntlets on his fists as he repeatedly kept a barrel bouncing in the air with his gauntlets.

There was another man who had his legs crossed…but he wasn't sitting on the floor, oh no, he was levitating as he had his arms lifted and touched his finger-tips together.

Another man with long, dark brown, shaggy hair with a matching beard, was holding a staff with one end that was a little twisted, and a few leaves grew from it. But then a healthy green vine grew long and fast from the staff's edge.

And there was even a man with a huge black afro, had round sun-glasses with stars on them, and played a soft tune on a lute.

"Dad, did you really know this 'Clouse' guy?" Lloyd asked quietly.

"Don't let his attire threw you off. Clouse practices dark arts, and he is Chen's right hand man," Garmadon replied.

"Why haven't you or Sensei Wu us that there are more people like us?" Kai questioned.

"Some things are just best left a secret, Kai. You were lead to believe you were special, yet you never question where your powers originated."

"Are you implying that I'm not special? What am I, chopped liver?" Jay asked angrily.

"Everyone on this ship is a descendant from The Elemental Masters," Garmadon went on.

"The Elemental Masters? Who were they?" Lloyd asked out of curiosity.

"They were The First Spinjitzu Masters' guardians. Each were entrusted by an element that have been passed down, generation to generation," Garmadon explained.

"Well, it's that's true…then what about Nya? She doesn't have any powers," Kai pointed out.

"Oh, but doesn't she? There's power in all of you; it just needs to be awoken. But the contestants here have had no master, yet they have managed to find their true potential. Take this very pale man, for instance," Garmadon explain, and pointed at a pale man, as he said, that wore western attire and a pair of sun-glasses, as he stood at the rope railing at the edge of the boat, "he is a distant descendant of the Master of Light. Keep watching and you'll see how it was so hard to find him all this time."

And as if on cue, the man AND his clothes disappeared into thin air…but his cow-boy had and sun-glasses did not, giving him away.

But then a white flash with a tint of red suddenly whipped by the ninja, grabbing their attention. But then the white flash turned out to be a man with a white jump-suit with red designs…and it was a little too tight on his body. The man adjusted his sun-glasses and smoothed down his brown hair that was dripping with hair-gel.

"Then there's this man: Griffin Turner. He is the grandson of the Master of…well, Speed," Garmadon simply said, and then Griffin dashed towards them.

"Can't touch this," Griffin sang as he ran off again, and in seconds, was on the other side of the boat.

"Uh, last time I checked, speed is not an element," Jay scoffed.

"That's funny, coming from the Master of Lightning," Garmadon chuckled, making everyone else laugh at the burn, but Jay wasn't happy.

The ninja then stopped for a rest from all the walking. But then Kai noticed that the woman with the bright jacket from earlier was at the rope rail near-by.

"And, uh, what about her?" Kai asked, referring to the mysterious red-head.

"I am unaware of who she is…most of these people, I have not heard of. But remember that they will all be gunning for you ninja; being the ninja and Ninjago's greatest heroes, you have much honor…and here, that means very low quantity," Garmadon explained, but at the same time, the huge, Mongolian armor covered, gauntlet wearing man from earlier came walking up to the woman.

"Karloff wanted to be first in line," Karloff, the buff man, grunted like a cave-man as he grabbed the woman's arm with a gauntlet fist.

"Let go of me," the woman grunted.

"But honor means something to me," Kai said angrily as he walked up to Karloff and the red-head, and the two were surprised when they saw Kai step into the fight.

"Please, I'm fine. I can handle it," the woman pleaded softly as Karloff let go and turned his attention towards Kai.

"This none of Red Man's business. Bitch budded in line, and now Karloff was revenge," Karloff grunted, clearly having no sense of grammar.

"Well, it not a big deal, Mittens. Just leave the lass alone, will you?" Kai said firmly, and with that, the woman couldn't watch anymore, so she turned and looked out to the ocean.

"I not Mittens, and these not mittens. These crush ninja!" Karloff roared as he shoved a gauntlet into Kai's face, but Kai pushed it away.

"Prove it," Kai growled.

"Save your wrath for the actual tournament, Kai!" Garmadon called.

"You think Karloff is scared by you?"

"Nope. Is there really no brain in the Mongolian hat of yours?" Kai asked, getting a little too cocky.

But then Karloff grabbed Kai's neck, and would've easily choked him, but thought it'd be more fun to scare him.

"Uh, guy? Pals? Amigos? A little help?" Kai said in a strained voice.

"You say Karloff is a jack-ass?" Karloff growled as he pulled Kai's face towards his own.

"Karloff wouldn't be ass enough to start something he can't finish!" Lloyd called.

But then everyone was thrown off guard when Karloff decided to punch Kai's torso, sending the said red ninja flying.

"Woopsie. Guess Karloff IS jack-ass," Karloff said sarcastically.

And when the others went to run off to help Kai, Garmadon only stopped them.

"This is something Kai started on his own, so he must also stop it on his own," Garmadon pointed out.

Karloff thought he was victorious, but he wasn't happy when he saw Kai stand back up, and got into a fighting stance while facing him.

"FIRE!"

Kai shouted something he hasn't in a while as he produced balls of fire in his hands, and he threw them at Karloff, but Karloff blocked them all with his gauntlets. And what Karloff did next was very unexpected.

Karloff smashed his iron gauntlets together, and when he did, it seemed to trigger his powers as he grew twice his size, and his entire body became the iron his gauntlets were made of.

Now Kai knew he was fucked.

Karloff ran towards Kai, and tried to pound him with his fists, but missed when Kai barrel-rolled to dodge his attacks. But Kai eventually slipped up and Karloff hit him, and sent him flying towards a window, and though it wasn't enough to break the window, it created many cracks, and it gained the people's attention inside.

The other ninja watched the fight safely from around a corner, hoping Kai wouldn't get too hurt.

Karloff then punched and once again sent Kai flying, but Kai flew farther this time, and he landed on the roof of the boat. When Kai picked himself up in pain, he looked up and saw Karloff's iron body lunging towards him. But Kai managed to roll out of the way in time before Karloff's gauntlets could punch through him faster than the roof.

But it wasn't over when Karloff sprinted and rammed into Kai, falling off the roof, and taking Kai with him. And when they landed back down, and Karloff stood up and looked down at helpless Kai underneath him, he raised back a gauntlet to get ready to end Kai, and the said fire ninja covered his head with his arms.

"ENOUGH!"

Karloff's smile went away as he huffed at Clouse's command. Karloff then deactivated his iron powers, and his skin turned back to flesh, and he grumbled as he stomped away.

"I'm really sorry about that whole thing," the red-head said softly as she walked up to Kai, and she even offered a hand to help him up. But when Kai grabbed her hand and stood back up, he was too lost in her eyes to notice the very odd, buzzing sensation in his hand, wrist and arm.

"We're here!" Clouse announced to the people of the boat, as he pointed out at an island that was silhouetted by the morning sun.

As everyone was distracted by the island ahead, Clouse sneakily went off into hiding, and pulled out and switched on a walkie-talkie.

"Master, Garmadon has rudely invited himself. But he doesn't seem to want to join in your tournament; seems to just want to look after his son," Clouse said in a hushed voice.

On the other line, a man sat in a huge room in his thrown as he held his walkie-talkie close to his face.

"Intriguing…don't be such a pussy, Clouse; everything will be just fine," the man on the other lone said darkly, but his voice was high and scratchy, making it very annoying.

He then hung up.

Clouse wasn't exactly happy that his master wasn't really listening.

"I swore that I would never stoop down to the likes of the dark side again," Garmadon grunted.

"Ya know, you shouldn't really swear; it's a sign of meek verbal skills," Jay added.

"If Zane is actually on that island, we will find him…we have to," Lloyd cut in firmly.

But on the island that they were fast approaching had something in its dark chambers.

The man who was talking with Clouse was at the door to a certain chamber.

"I have all the spades and aces in this card game; there's no way I can lose!" the man cackled as he looked at who he had locked up in the chamber, but then he walked off as he continued to cackle.

Inside the chamber the man was looking into, a human-shaped figure was sitting on the cold. Stone grounds of its cell, as heavy chains were shackled around its wrists.

But the man's cackling woke it from its sleep, and so he opened his eyes as they glowed blue, and the sunlight that seeped through the stone illuminated his titanium skin and stiff hair.

* * *

 **Awwww. Ain't it sweet? Lloyd and Kate's little family? So cute and fluffy!**

 **Oh, and one more thing before I go. I watched an exclusive clip for season 6 of Ninjago, and HOLY FREE-HOLY, you guys will not believe what the plot has in store for season 6. BUT if you guys want, just tell me in your reviews if you want to know more about the newest season, and I will gladly tell you what I know.**

 **Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	2. Chapter 2 - The tournament startsNOW!

**I am very sorry to have kept you guys waiting for the next chapter, I really am. And I have a couple things to say before we start reading.**

 **The first thing I need to point out is that the owner of the OC Star, Kairocksrainbow, has requested few tiny changes for Star, so if you ever notice her acting differently an don't like it, don't blame me because I am not Star's owner, alight? BTW, Kairocksrainbow, I don't know if you have an account on this website, so every time I see your reviews, I can't go and private message you. So could you help me out on that? Thanks,**

 **The second thing I want to point out is that there is something in this chapter that some readers MAAAY or may not find it offensive. So if you do find it offensive, then I'm sorry. And I'm certainly not going to tell anyone one what the offensive part is. Ok?**

* * *

Chapter 2 – The tournament starts…NOW!

Chen's Island was getting closer, and as the boat got closer, the island seemed to get bigger and bigger…and there was a was a temple that looked like a speck compared to the huge island.

"Let me see!" Karloff grunted as he pushed through the crowd, but was stopped when he pushed Kai.

"Do have any patience what-so-ever?" Kai snapped.

There would've been another fight…if the distant chanting from the temple hadn't caught their attention as they pulled up to the shore. Pretty soon, as they unloaded from the boat, and they began to hear drums too.

"Welcome to where the fun begins: Chen's Island! My master will be pleased to have so many brave fighters in his tournament!" Clouse announced, "oh, and he'll be most pleased to see you again, 'Sensei Garmadon'."

"Well, the pleasure is all mine," Garmadon said sarcastically as he glared at Clouse while getting off the boat.

"Man, there's some real Goddamn tension between you two," Cole added.

"How come we've never seen or heard of this island on a map?" Kai questioned, ignoring Cole's statement.

"And clarify for me as to why the founder of Ninjago's most popular noodle house is assembling a fighting tournament," Cole snapped.

"Chen used to be a friend, a very trusted ally even…but during the Serpentine Wars, Chen turned against his own kind, then siding with the treacherous Serpentine," Garmadon explained.

"You mean he was an enemy in the same wars you and Uncle Wu fought in?" Lloyd interrupted, and they then realized they were being left behind as everyone else was heading towards the temple, and so they followed.

"He used deception as a weapon, and in doing so, divided the Elemental Masters. It was a miracle when we were able to win the war, and he struck a deal for his surrender; the deal was he was never allowed to leave this island. Unbeknownst to Ninjago, he began to slowly, but surely, build a secret empire here," Garmadon explained.

"Well, he's not gonna divide us," Lloyd said firmly.

But then Kai looked behind him and noticed the red-head woman was walking by herself behind them, and so he smiled a goofy smile and shoved everyone to the side of the walk-way.

"L-ladies first!" Kai said sheepishly, as that made the woman smiled and kept walking, but everyone else was not happy.

"Oh, really?!" both Kate and Star asked in unison and in anger, and Kai just sighed happily as he ignored them and watched the woman walk away.

"I think our biggest concern should be that Zane could be anywhere on this huge island. Let's stay vigilant, guys," Cole said in a hushed voice as they all came up to the temple's walls and large entrance doors.

But soon the two, large, red doors opened, revealing another walk-way into the real building. And as they walked through and looked down, they noticed the snake-like carvings into the stone walk-way.

And that's also when the chanting and cadence of mighty drums grew louder, and as they continued walking, it got faster and faster, as the men who were chanting and beating the drums were all dressed in blood-red cloaks.

"I always wondered what walking into a red-carpet event would be like," Jay happily pointed out.

"Chen thinks he can live like a king, and does whatever he can to make that luxury possible. He's very self-sufficient here; nothing on his island happens without him knowing or his permission…and that includes leaving or coming to the island," Garmadon pointed out.

"How do you know so much about this place? You never told me about it," Lloyd added matter-of-factly, but Garmadon didn't reply at first as he messed with his shirt a bit, and pulled it down to reveal the back of his left shoulder-blade.

On his shoulder-blade was a swirling snake with dark purple scales.

"That's because Chen was my mentor—before he was my enemy."

* * *

The tattoo on Garmadon's back practically matched the design on the huge red carpet with golden designs in the huge, circular room, with many pillars all around the room, and everyone waited for their next command.

"You never said anything about you having a sensei," Lloyd said quietly.

"When I was about your age, I…sought out darker means of guidance. Chen taught me that no matter the cost, that winning is key…no matter who I hurt…but it wasn't until you saved me that I let the light guide me again, Son."

Lloyd couldn't help but smile again.

"Yeah, but apparently, even a great teacher like him never had a great sense of humor that rubbed off on you. Lighten' up, will ya? We're in an under-ground, secret fight club. Who else can go around saying they did that?" Jay asked enthusiastically.

But then a tattooed man suddenly banged on a giant gong, making everyone silent as Clouse walked out and pointed upwards.

"All rise for Master Chen!" Clouse announced, and everyone did as they were told and stood as they saw a shadow descending from the ceiling.

Pretty soon, a thrown with small golden dragon statues as a crest was placed on the floor, and in the thrown was a man.

The man was old, as he had a few wrinkles in his face. He wore blood-red attire with golden laced designs and accessories; he also had a little black goatee and some side-burns. On his back was a long, black cape. But the most captivating thing about him was his red colored irises…but mostly the giant snake skull he wore on his head.

"Welcome to my Tournament of Elements! Now, if you could die!" Chen yelled with a grin, and suddenly all the doors slammed shut, "…rect your attention to me, please."

"I forgot to mention that he was always very theatric," Garmadon whispered as he, along with everyone else, sat back down.

"Never before have I seen so many Elemental Masters—under the same roof. It's a Goddamn miracle, if you ask me. I see…the Master of Fire…Earth…Shadow…Speed…even a green prophet!" Chen announced as he pointed at the said people, but then he saw Garmadon.

"Well, it looks like Clouse was telling the truth; even some old acquaintances have bothered to show up," Chen said darkly.

"But maybe we showed up because we have some catching up to do," Kate said firmly, and stood, up catching everyone's, even Chen's attention.

"And who are you supposed to be? I don't recall giving you an-," Chen began angrily, but then he paused when he REALLY looked at Kate,

"Kate…is it really you?" Chen asked as he was…sobbing? There were literally tears forming and his eyes, and when Kate knew he was crying, she cried too.

"Yes, it's me…Daddy!" Kate sobbed softly and suddenly hugged Chen, and Chen wasted no time in hugging his long-lost daughter back.

"Daddy?!" all of the ninja, even Garmadon asked in unison.

Chen and Kate pulled away from their hug, but Chen cupped Kate's tear-stained face to look at his beloved daughter.

"You look…just like your mother; you have her beauty…I-I'm so sorry that I couldn't be there for you," Chen pleaded, and luckily wiped away all his tears before any were spilled.

"It's ok, Daddy…I was lost for a long time but then…" Kate began with a sniffle as she referred to Lloyd, "Lloyd found me."

"Oh! So my daughter is married to the Green/Legendary Golden Ninja, eh?" Chen asked angrily as he towered over Lloyd, making the said blonde scared, but then he smiled, "I should thank you, but it's be more fun to get back to this competitive tournament of mine."

"Which, um, uh…shouldn't we be starting now?" the red-head woman called from across the room.

"Oh, but of course!" Chen yelled, and with that, the gong was rung again, drawing everyone's attention to it. And they all noticed the design on the golden gong that was a carving of a snake's skeleton.

"The symbol before you is the Anacondrai tribe's symbol; the Anacondrai were the most superior Serpentine to ever roam Ninjago. The tribe's creed? 'Only ONE can remain'," Chen explained darkly, and then the gong was once again rung.

But this time, the gong split In two, revealing brackets of every person, or contestant, in the room.

"We may not have to face each other for a while, but we'd better find Zane before we do," Lloyd whispered firmly.

"Now, feast your eyes…on the Jade Blade!" Chen announced, and everyone followed his gaze towards Clouse, who was holding up a blade made of jade gemstone, like Chen said before.

"Here, these little blades are like lives. Retrieve one in each challenge, and you can go on to the next. But if you allow your opponent to retrieve it instead…you're out!" Chen explained loudly, "it's not rocket-science; every match will be different, no challenge will ever be the same as the last, and your powers will give you the advantage and keep you going, so you can either use them…or lose them!"

"But what does Karloff get?"

"If you win, you get to stay on the island. But win it all—and you'll be rewarded with fortunes beyond comprehension—AND a life-time supply of noodles from my noodle house!" Chen announced happily, "but I think we were already aware that no one is here for noodles, right? No, you all want the glory and honor of being Ninjago's greatest fighter!"

The other elemental masters cheered with Chen's statement, but the ninja and Garmadon remained quiet.

"But what really happens when you lose?" Garmadon piped up.

"Last time I checked, no one likes to lose, Bitch!" Chen laughed, and everyone, except Garmadon and the ninja, laughed hard with him, "now, my island is not like the Dark Island, oh no, it is a happy, fun place, so please, enjoy it!"

"You will now all be directed to your rooms!" Clouse announced, and then clapped his hands, and on his command, a bunch of woman dressed in many sparkly and colorful robes, black hair, and painted faces, walked out in rhythm and silence.

"This place has clowns, too? What's next? The Anacondrai come back?" Jay asked sarcastically.

"They're not clowns, Jay. They're called Kabuki; they're Chen's gestures," Garmadon clarified.

Suddenly, the Kabuki all stopped at one person, and grabbed their arms in a vice grip and began to walk off with them…but Kate and Garmadon were the only ones who didn't get a Kabuki to drag them way.

"Stay together, and don't lose focus!" Garmadon cried up to the many floors that the ninja were being dragged up, but then Clouse grabbed his arm and took him away.

"What did he say?" Kai called up.

"I think he said 'fuck us'!" Jay joked.

But Kai didn't have time to laugh about it as his arm was hurting, but his Kabuki finally stopped in front of a room.

"Your Fire Suite, Master Kai," thee Kabuki said in a creepy, soulless, voice, but Kai ignored it as he looked into his suite, and then the Kabuki slammed the doors behind him.

The whole room was just amazing to Kai; it had red carpets and banners with brilliant fire designs on them. His suite even had an ocean view, and he had a king-sized bed with fiery colored blankets and pillows.

But it wasn't over for Kai when he then saw a huge, full-body portrait of himself standing in raging flames.

"Wow. I look sexy," Kai complimented.

He then walked out to his balcony that over looked the ocean, and breathed in the ocean breeze.

"I could totally get used to this," Kai said happily, and leaned on the balcony's railing…but then he gasped when he saw that the woman was on the balcony next to his, which mean that they're neighbors.

But Kai was also surprised that she not only had her hood down, but that she had completely taken her jacket off, revealing an orange, or sun-burst colored gi…in which Kai thought looked sexy on the woman. But he also couldn't take his eyes of her red pony-tail.

It was like Kai could hear sweet music in his head, and it nearly made him look stupid when the woman looked at him.

"Well, what do you know? We're neighbors! Ain't that somethin'?" Kai asked with confidence.

"Guess so," the woman sighed, but with a smile.

"I'm Kai, by the way; Master of Fire, too!" Kai said while getting too cocky again, and then lit his fist on fire to show off.

"My name's Skylar; Master of…oh, wouldn't you just love to know?" Skylar asked sarcastically, and then cocked an eyebrow at Kai's flaming-fist.

But then that's when Kai felt the burning on his hand, and cried out in pain as he tried to shake it off; the whole time he looked like an idiot, Skylar was chuckling at him.

* * *

"Every device in your room has been configured to only interact with your own electrical signal," Jay's Kabuki explained, and then just shut the door and left.

The walls to Jay's room were, well, blue, and Jay also had a king-sized bed with his respective colors.

"Hmm…my own electrical signal, huh?" Jay asked himself, and then produced the tiniest little electrical spark within his fingers…and with that, a huge, seventy-one inch flat-screen T.V. popped up from the floor, and there was even a huge game console to go with it.

Pretty soon, Jay was kicking back on his huge bed while playing GTA Five.

* * *

Star's room was alien; the walls were dark, and yet glowing…it was like watching a lava-lamp that's always surrounding you. Even the blankets and pillows on Star's bed looked like a lava-lamp. Oh, and there was one more thing about her room: everything was floating.

"How did they know I loved lava-lamps?" Star asked with a grin as she used her gravity powers to levitate herself up to her bad, and she comfortably lied down on it.

"Like sleepin' on air…oh wait…"

* * *

Unlike the others, Cole didn't exactly have a comfortable bed…in fact, it wasn't even a bed; it was just a rock with smaller rocks on it…that are supposed to be pillows?

"I know I'm the Master of Earth, but that doesn't mean I like to sleep on it and break my fucking back!" Cole grunted as he repeatedly tossed and turned to get comfortable. But when he gave up and stood up from his 'bed', he accidently bumped his head on what he assumed was a switch, and then a couple of walls started to pull apart, revealing a bunch of shelves with food on them.

But not just any food, noodles and many other items from Chen's Noodle House…but best of all: cake!

Cole sprinted towards the nearest cake and a fork, and just started mowing on it.

"Oh, I'm in heaven!"

* * *

Lloyd looked at himself in the mirror at the attire they had picked for the tournament. What they picked were like sleeveless gis; perfect for the humid jungle terrain.

"Ok, this is pretty hot," Lloyd chuckled, but then he gasped when he heard his bedroom door creak open…only to see Kate standing there.

"Whoa! If I had known my dad was going have you wear so little clothing, I would've brought you here sooner," Kate joked as she closed the door and walked further in.

"I'm glad you're ok," Lloyd said, and then pulled Kate in for a kiss, "but wait, I thought Chen…er, 'Dad-in-law'…thought that we'd all have to remain in our own rooms."

"Well, I get a pass because I'm his daughter…a-and because he didn't know I was coming and he didn't have a room for me. So would you be as so kind as to share yours?"

"Hell, I'll even share my bed," Lloyd said seductively.

"Oh, I'd like that."

* * *

Back outside at the temple doors, Garmadon was pushed out by Clouse.

"Sorry, but Chen said that there was no room for you," Clouse said sarcastically.

"Fine. I guess I'll just stay and guard; wouldn't want anything bad to happen to the ninja…I know how you always loved to use dark magic," Garmadon growled.

"Oh, but why would I cheat? And against the ninja?" Clouse asked, but then slammed the door in Garmadon's face.

But suddenly the P.A. system, that was installed all throughout Chen's temple and most of the jungle surrounding it, suddenly switched on.

"My beloved contestants, hidden throughout my island are Jade Blades, and in every challenge, there is always just enough for all except ONE contestant! Those who come back empty-handed, are disqualified!" Chen announced, making Garmadon struggle to get back in.

Chen also managed to snap Skylar and Kai from their conversation on the balconies.

But apparently Jay was ignoring it as he was taking a dip in a hot-tub in his bathroom.

"The first challenge starts…NOW!" Chen yelled.

"Wait a minute?! Now?!" Jay asked in surprise, and then his bathroom doors flew open, revealing the same brown-bearded man from the boat that had the staff that produced vines from his twisted staff: Bolobo the Master of Nature.

Good thing Jay was in his hot-tub and not his bath tub…because then he wouldn't be wearing his blue swimming-trunks.

"This damned bathroom could use some fresh air due to your 'generous' odor! Lightning—meet nature!" Bolobo grunted in a deep voice as his staff began to work its wonders.

The twisted end on Bolobo's staff started to emit a bright green ray of light, and from the green light grew many thick vines that started to fill the room and surround Jay, as the said Master of Lightning was panicking in his blue swimming trunks and luxurious hot-tub.

Jay was quick to react though when he bounded from his comfortable seat in the tub, but he was cornered by the every-growing vines. But Jay wasn't going to give up when he glared at Bolobo, and he fired a current of electricity towards the bearded man. When Bolobo was hit by Jay's lightning, the buff man was knocked a few good feet onto his back.

But Jay was not successful yet; Bolobo looked up as he shook away the dizziness, but when he looked straight up at a light in the ceiling, he noticed a Jade Blade that was hidden in the glass of the light.

The blue ninja then noticed his mistake of knocking Bolobo back when he saw the Jade Blade too, and it was too late for him to do anything when Bolobo created a set of more vines to cage Jay, and keep him from reaching the Jade Blade.

* * *

Lloyd and Kate knew they had better get going into the challenge before they lose their place in the tournament. The two walked out of Lloyd's room while they listened to Chen's voice continue to ramble on the P.A. system.

"May the BEST fighter win!" Chen announced, and then began to maniacally laugh.

* * *

Kai and Skylar jerked that heads up, and at the exact same time, they laid their eyes on a Jade Blade that was balanced on a tip of a fancy roof tile on the top of the temple.

"A Jade Blade!" Kai called out the obvious.

* * *

Inside the temple, Masters of Speed, Sound, Gravity and Light: Griffin Turner, Jacob Pevsner, Gravis(an Indian man with that big poofy hat that was purple with a red ruby crest, and he had a dark goatee)and Paleman were all sprinting and shoving each other to get to a Jade Blade that was not very well-hidden in a vase across the way, but Lloyd and Kate saw the blade too, so they went after it.

"Split it?" Kate questioned.

"Split it."

And with that, the married couple began to make their way towards the Jade Blade too…but then the leg of Ash, a man with ash-colored hair and the Master of Smoke, came out from the room next door, and tipped Lloyd; Kate then stopped because she wouldn't leave Lloyd behind.

Once Kate helped Lloyd back to his feet, Ash still implied that he wanted a fight, so Lloyd gave him one. But when the green prophet went to land a punch to him, Ash exploded into ashes and disappeared.

"What the hell?" Lloyd questioned with much confusion.

But suddenly, Ash appeared again…BEHIND Lloyd, and it was too late for Lloyd to retaliate because As had already landed a hard blow to the back of Lloyd's head.

* * *

Skylar and Kai glared back down at each other.

"That one is MINE!" Skylar yelled as she leapt up and tried to kick Kai back, but the Master of Fire was able to dodge her attack as the red-head jumped up from balcony roof to balcony roof to reach the blade.

But Kai wasn't going to give up that easy as he jumped up after Skylar, and now the two were side by side on the same roof, and Skylar tried to push Kai off first.

"Would you stop?!"

"YOU fucking stop!" Kai snapped as he nudged Skylar back, but he soon regretted it when Skylar lost her grip and started to fall. But Kai wasn't going to let her fall as he grabbed her wrist.

"AH! HELP!"

Kai knew he was risking it, but he helped Skylar anyway; he swung her back once, and then up again to throw her directly up into the air. This resulted in Skylar landing right within reach of the Jade Blade, and so she took it from its hidden spot, and then looked and smiled back down at Kai.

Though he wished Skylar's beautiful green eyes would make him feel better…like they always do, they aren't this time. Now, he was at risk of getting kicked out of the tournament and sent off the island.

"See ya later—Hot Tamale!" Skylar called down before she leapt up onto the roof and disappeared from Kai's vision.

"What does Karloff win?!"

Kai knew that angry roar anywhere; he looked down and saw Karloff was walking out of the temple towards a tray Jade Blade that was sitting out in the middle of the yard.

Kai grinned as he knew he had a chance again; he could totally beat this clunk-head.

* * *

Cole stumbled out of his room as he clutched his stomach from a TERRIBLE stomach ache; he really went too far this time with all that food.

"Ugh…why…out of all times?" Cole whined as he nearly threw up. The Master of Earth continued to watch the scene before him; the scene being Jacob Pevsner, Gravis, Paleman, and Griffin Turner all fighting to get to the Jade Blade in the vase, and he also noticed Lloyd and Kate trying to fight back Ash, but he kept disappearing on them before they could ever hit him.

But Cole turned lucky when he looked down and noticed that there was actually another Jade Blade hidden behind some potted flowers on the floor below, so he smiled and slowly made his way down the stairs while continue to grasp his aching stomach.

Through his red sun-glasses, Griffin was the first to notice Cole and his attempt for the Jade Blade below, so he suddenly sucker-punched Paleman and Jacob off of him, and he literally zipped towards the stairs after Cole.

And Cole was merely just two feet away from winning…when Griffin suddenly came out of nowhere and ran and snatched Cole's blade.

"Sorry, Rocky—too slow!" Griffin chuckled as he swung the Jade Blade in front of Cole, making the said Earth Master glare and growl.

"You bastard!" Cole shouted angrily.

* * *

Jay wasn't holding up so well as he was STILL trapped in his bathroom behind Bolobo's vines. But Jay had an idea; he managed to squeeze a hand through the plants, and grab the remote to his huge, flat-screen T.V. He pressed the power button, and his T.V. popped up, along with a Fritz Donnogan movie appearing on screen.

"Ooh, I love Fritz Donnogan!" Bolobo fan-boyed, and in doing so resulted in him losing control of the plants keeping Jay trapped, and so they started to go limp, which is what Jay wanted.

The blue ninja then grabbed a blue towel and pushed his way through all the vegetation, all while Bolobo was hypnotized by the T.V.

Jay then crept up behind Bolobo while twisting his towel up tightly, and then whipping Bolobo with the tightly-twisted towel, which certainly took the Nature Master by surprise as he grabbed his back side in pain. And Jay only continued to whip Bolobo until he could no longer hold the Jade Blade and dropped it, allowing Jay to grasp it.

"Yes, I win! I LOVE my new room!" Jay cheered like a little child.

* * *

Lloyd and Kate were still handling their problems as they continued to fight some of the other Elemental Masters. But it wasn't long before the two finally managed to keep them at bay and make their way towards the Jade Blade.

But across the way was Clouse, and he wasn't going to let his Master Chen down that easy, so he raised his hands and placed them close together in a certain way while he started to chant something. Soon, a dark purple aura engulfed his hands as he kept them aimed at Lloyd and Kate.

Clouse's sudden use of dark magic suddenly caused the dark purple dragon designs on the carpet start to come to life as they sprung up and grabbed Lloyd and Kate's legs, stopping them both in their tracks.

That's when the Master of the Mind Neuro, a tall and pale man with sleek white hair and a black streak down the middle, stepped into the situation, as he had no one to stop him with fighting, and so he grinned as he saw his clear and victorious path to the Jade Blade.

Clouse continued to use his dark magic while keeping his hands clasped together and his eyes shut tight, but this distracted him from noticing that there was someone else on the scene.

Suddenly, Clouse felt something hit him and he was knocked down onto his back. It was actually a person who attacked him, and that person was Garmadon. And Garmadon's sudden attack caused Clouse's magic to stop, thus freeing Lloyd and Kate, and they could now fight back Neuro.

"Hurry, you two! You mustn't lose!" Garmadon called as he continued to keep Clouse down, but it wasn't easy.

Meanwhile, on the floor below, Cole had just managed to fight off the other Elemental Masters too, and he look towards the middle of the room to see that the Jade Blade was still there.

"Ugh…this is worse than that ass cramp from The Dragon Ride of Twenty-Fifteen," Cole groaned as he slowly made his way to the blade. But when he went to reach for it for the second time, the blade suddenly started…levitating?

"What the-?" Cole then questioned as he tried t keep up with the escaping blade, but then he felt someone slap his face.

"Bastard!"

"Bitch!" Paleman called back to Cole as he remained invisible, but it wasn't over just yet.

Cole then went to drastic measures as he ran up to a pillar and kicked it hard, which made dust start to fall from the floor; the dust then revealing Paleman's invisible figure when the dust covered him.

"Got'cha," Cole said quietly with a grin, and then he used Spinjitzu and knocked Paleman back down to the ground, and Cole was then able to grab the Jade Blade for once.

But then the Master of Earth regretted using Spinjitzu when the spinning suddenly took a toll on him and nearly made him throw up. But the sickness was terribly timed when Gravis used his gravitational powers to run on the ceiling directly above Cole and he snatched the blade from Cole's grasp.

"Hey, you dick-head! That's mine!" Cole shouted, but Gravis never looked back. But Lady Luck was once again on Cole's side when he saw yet another Jade Blade that was hidden under a small couch.

* * *

All of the Elemental Masters…except Cole, Kai and Karloff…were gathered in Chen's temple again, as there was a huge pedestal that held the many other Jade Blades. Even Star managed to gain one as it was her blade that Clouse was placing on the pedestal.

"Hey, how come THEY both get a blade for the price of one?!" Skylar asked angrily.

"She's my daughter and he's my son-in-law; they get freebie to split their Jade Blades at the end of every contest," Chen replied.

"That not fair!" Skylar growled.

"Life isn't fair," Chen said darkly.

"There are now only two blades remaining-," Clouse cut in, but then the doors flew open.

"Wait…hold up…I got one too!" Cole panted as he sprinted in while clutching his stomach with his other hand.

"Alright, buddy! Ya made it!" Jay said happily.

"First of all: we're not buddies. Second: where's Kai?" Cole questioned flatly.

Little did Cole know that Kai and Karloff were glaring at each other, as if they were about to have a Mexican stand-off go down in the yard between the Jade Blade that lay right between them.

"Remember: only ONE can remain," Chen repeated.

It wasn't long before the fight between the Masters of Metal and Fire began. Kai created a fireball in his fist, and Karloff bashed his metal gauntlets together, turning him into his larger, metal self again.

"GET ON WITH IT!" Chen's voice rang from the P.A. system angrily.

They both started running towards each other at the same time, and Kai was the first to fire, but Karloff blocked his fire with a single wave from a gauntlet fist. But Kai wasn't done yet as he created a larger wave of fire and blew it towards Karloff, only for him to jump back and dodge the fire. Karloff then bounded from his spot and towards Kai, in an attempt to pound the red ninja into the ground with a single punch, but he missed. Though, his punch did accidentally knock the Jade Blade a few feet away. so now they were sprinting towards the blade.

Who was going to get it?

* * *

Everyone heard loud footsteps approaching the room, so they looked towards the door to see who the winner was; the ninja were hoping it was Kai.

"KARLOFF WINS!"

Everyone then cheered; even Chen and Clouse got a good, dark chuckle out of it…not because of Karloff's victory, but because it was Kai's defeat. And of course, Garmadon and the ninja weren't happy about this.

But as Karloff held up the blade with victory, it wasn't over yet when he felt something odd with the gauntlet holding the blade. But he didn't realize it was actually Kai unscrewing a bolt on the gauntlet, causing it to fall from Karloff's hand, until AFTER his gauntlet and the blade fell to the floor.

"Ha! Maybe you should check your suit regular for loose screws, Jackass!" Kai laughed as he picked up the Jade Blade. This then turned frowns upside-down for the ninja and Garmadon…but it also turned a smile into a frown for Clouse.

Kai created jet-like streams of fire from his fists, which then allowed him to fly up to the pedestal, and place his Jade Blade onto it. That earned him more cheers, but he was more concerned about Skylar as she and him glanced at each other. Kai then gaining a proud nod and smile from Skylar, thus making him smile too.

"We have our first loser!" Chen shouted.

"What?! No! That no fair! He cheated!" Karloff protested.

"Cheating is NOT how you prosper, Kai," Garmadon growled.

"Oh…you know what?! Fine! Karloff never wanted to be on this fucking island, anyway!"

Chen's throne was then lowered as the said lord backed up to sit upon his throne.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that—because you're gonna wanna learn to love it!" Chen shouted as he suddenly pressed a button on a control panel that was built into his throne. The button then seemed to activate a trap-door directly below Karloff, and if you know the physics of trap-doors, you would've already known that he plummeted into the unknown below.

"As recently presented—if you lose, you are OUT! Break the rules, you are OUT! So my word of advice: never bite the hand that feeds you—Chen's noodles! Now, rest up for tonight! Tomorrow's challenge will recommence!" Chen announced, and with that, one of his snake-tattooed cronies rang a gong.

* * *

Now was the time to chow. Garmadon, the girls and the ninja were all eating their food at a large, semi-circlular booth; along with all the other Elemental Masters as they ate at their own different tables.

"At least the food here's good," Cole said with enthusiasm.

"Ugh, it's all KILLING me! What the hell is under the trap-doors, and what the hell happens when you lose?!" Jay suddenly ranted.

"Try not to think about it," Garmadon said softly.

"How can I NOT think about it?! We moved on, and now I feel guilt; it's not a fun feeling."

"You think you're the only one that feels terrible? Our mission is simple: we find Zane and get off the damnable island—tonight," Kai said firmly.

"And how do you propose we do that, Einstein? You heard what Chen said: you break a rule, and you're out. What makes you think he'll just let us roam freely around his island?" Kate questioned.

"If you recall, we are ninja; thus professionals of stealth. Meet me in my room at midnight," Kai replied in a hushed voice, while he noticed Paleman walking by…but he wasn't expecting him to stop at their booth.

"Can I please sit here too?" Paleman sheepishly questioned.

"Um, how 'bout ya just disappear? This is a private table," Jay replied angrily, and with that, Paleman disappeared, but…

"We can still see your lunch-tray, Dumb ass!" Jay sighed. It wasn't long before Paleman reappeared and walked away in anger.

"Wow, Jay, you really told him off. Are you feeling ok? Unusual and sudden bursts of aggression are—usually my thing," Cole said in surprise.

"See what this whole trip to this island is doing to me?! It's like it's corrupting me! I want it to stop!" Jay rambled on.

"Right, ok…see you all tonight," Kate cut in slowly.

* * *

Kai was admiring himself in a vanity mirror in his sleeveless, red ninja gi. But then the red ninja looked at the clock: a minute until midnight. Kai then opened his balcony doors and walked out to the edge; he peered over the edge as he saw a few night patrols with spears walking by.

And it was now that the other ninja started to arrive at his balcony and go into his room. But just as Jay was the last one to hop down to Kai's balcony, wouldn't ya guess that Skylar for some reason decides to walk out onto her balcony right at the same time.

Kai then began to panic inside, so he pushed Jay off the edge, causing the Master of Lightning to yelp as he fell.

"What did you just say?" Skylar questioned as she looked over at Kai, and luckily saw no Jay.

"U-um, I-I said…WAG-AAHHH-WOOOOW, what a beautiful night!" Kai said as he suddenly came up with it, and then her nervously laughed as he quickly looked down to find Jay trying to keep quiet while holding onto the bottom edge of the balcony, only for his grip to by loosening.

"Uh, right…what do you think happened to Karloff?" Skylar asked as she ignored Kai's weird behavior.

"I don't know—and to be honest, if I knew that that would've happened, I-," Kai's voice was now calmer and confident.

"Meh, ya did what ya had to do to simply stay in the tournament. And I'm sorry that I gave you the cold-shoulder earlier—it does seem like a good idea to have friends here."

"K-Kai…" Jay whispered in a strained voice.

"Jay, will you just shut up?" Kai hissed under his breath while glaring down at Jay.

"You remember earlier? When you asked me about my powers? Well-,"

"Uh, yeah…um, that's nice…but, um…whoo! Is it cold out tonight, or what? Well, guess I'll see you tomorrow, bye!"

Skylar was taken back a little by more of Kai's weird behavior as he suddenly just walked back into his room and closed his balcony door behind him.

"Um…ok?" Skylar said as she shrugged and walked back into her room too…which is exactly what Kai wanted as he quickly opened the door and ran back up to help Jay up onto the balcony.

"Gives ya a whole new level on 'leaving you hanging' doesn't it, Romeo?" Jay asked sarcastically.

Meanwhile, the others were still waiting on Kai and Jay, and they were happy to see that they finally walked back in.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Nice crib!" Jay said with amazement as he laid his eyes on Kai's awesome room for the first time.

"I know! It's bullshit, isn't it?! It SO much nicer than my room!" Cole said angrily, but then he seemed to smile as he turned over towards a large bowl of chocolate-covered shell peas, "look, it's even got chocolate-covered shell peas!"

Cole then began to grab and wolf down as many of the coated candies as he could. But then he grabbed the entire bowl and jumped up from his seat, and bounded onto Kai's bed back first.

"Oh, and your pillows—so soft. It's such a crock that mine are made of fucking rock!"

"We need to focus, guys. This place was swarming with patrols. How are we going to search the whole island for Zane?" Kate suddenly questioned.

"We're ninja, so we travel by shadow. I don't care how long it takes us, we're covering every inch of this island from top to bottom," Kai replied firmly.

But then no one noticed the fact that Cole was no longer around as…Kai's bed flipped over.

"Maybe we should split up?" Star suggested.

"No. We're a team, and we stick together like we always have," Lloyd protested…just as Kai's bed flipped again and Cole appeared while still holding the bowl of candy and still lying on the bed.

"Uh, guys, the bed is-,"

"Cole, for the last time: we fucking get that you like my bed! So quit foolin' around!" Kai said angrily.

"No, not that. I found a way of how we can search the whole place."

Pretty soon, all the ninja was struggling to fit and lye on Kai's bed…which was very awkward.

"Ok. I feel ridicules," Lloyd admitted, and then he sat up to look at everyone, "You better not be messing with us, Cole."

"I'm not! The bed must've moved when I triggered something…but what? All I did was lie down, and then I stretched a little-AAAAAAHH!"

But before Cole could finish his sentence, he triggered the bed again when he moved the pillow, and the bed flipped over again. And the other ninja were surprised to see that Cole wasn't joking because underneath Kai's bed was a secret series of tunnels.

"I don't think Zane is ON the island—I think he's IN it."

"You might onto something there, Kate," Kai said as he kindled a flame in his fist, creating a source of light for them in the dark tunnel.

But suddenly grunting was heard echoing off the tunnel walls.

"You guys here that?" Lloyd questioned.

They all looked around, and Jay was the first to notice two peepholes that were perfect for a pair of spying eyes. So the Master of Lightning then started to climb up the support beams to reach the holes, and he then looked through them in wonder.

"Someone must be fighting on the other side," Jay called down.

"Who's fighting?" Cole called.

"Actually… it's NOT a fight. It's Skylar's room, and she's only training," Jay replied…which then caught Kai's attention first.

"Skylar?! Really?! Ooh, lemme see! Lemme see!" Kai said excitedly as he anxiously climbed up to the peepholes too.

"I knew you had the hots for her," Cole said with a smug look.

"N-no…she's merely competition!" Kai clearly lied as he started to push Jay away to look, but the two only ended up sharing the pair of spy-holes.

They didn't know it, but Kai and Jay were looking through the holes that would actually be the eyes of a portrait of Chen from the point of view in Skylar's room. And they were watching her do one-hand push ups.

"Man, you guys are pervs! This is invasion of privacy of the opposite sex! How are you not noticing how wrong this is?!" Kate asked angrily.

"But her room doesn't reveal a thing about her powers!" Kai added…but what he and Jay saw next shocked them. When Skylar was done with push ups, she then created within her fist a ball of…fire.

"What'd ya see, now?" Cole asked with anticipation.

"She's…fire," Kai sadly replied.

Everything was now awkwardly quiet.

"Well…this is some awkward incest," Lloyd suddenly pointed out while scratching the back of his head, only to earn a slap from an angry wife.

"You're not helping!" Kate snapped.

"Whatever, let's just keep going," Kai sighed as he and Jay leaped back down and the others continued to make their way down the dark tunnel…but not before Cole grabbed his bowl of candy again.

"This might as well be a maze. Good thing you're leaving a trail, Cole," Jay said as he looked back at Cole.

"Wait, what am I doing?" Cole asked quickly, but then he looked behind himself and realized that while he had munching on his candy and has been continuing to walk, he has been accidentally dropping candy.

"Oh yeah, right…totally meant to do that."

It wasn't long before the ninja had entered a new area of the tunnels because now the tunnels were looked like they were no longer made out of the insulation and support beams of the temple, but rather stone.

"Stop!"

Everyone halted at Lloyd's stern voice as the said green ninja pointed down at a trip-wire.

"Booby traps."

"What?! This place has booby-traps too?! How much more awesome can this place get?!" Jay asked with excitement, only to earn a disappointed glare from Lloyd, "u-um, ah…AHEM…I mean…booby-traps, schmooby-traps! Boo!"

"From now on, we need to watch where we walk," Lloyd said in a once again firm tone.

"Hey…anyone else here that?" Kai suddenly asked. It took a few seconds, but they soon heard drums being beat and chanting.

They soon saw a large group of Chen's minions coming through the tunnel.

"Be quiet and hide! Hurry!" Cole demanded in a hushed voice. And so he, Kai and Jay all hid well behind a large rock while Star used her shadowy parts of her Shadow and Gravity powers to become like the shadows and practically turn invisible. And due to the fight with some of the Elemental Masters from the first challenge, Kate was able to absorb shadow powers and turn into invisible shadows too.

After the first quarter of Chen's minions walked past without seeing the ninja, Lloyd then signaled everyone. He signaled them to each grab a crony.

Meanwhile, the rest of Chen's minions had already made it to a large room that was down the tunnel. The room was circular, and made completely of the stone that made up the rest of the deeper tunnels. But the most outstanding feature was the large opening that was shaped like the unhinged jaws of a snake.

Hidden at the back of the chanting and drum-playing men, the ninja were wearing the stolen attire of the minions they captured, and they used the chocolate from Cole's candy to create their tattoos…but Cole wouldn't stop eating his, so Kai slapped his hand away.

"Stop eat you tattoos!" Kai snapped in a hushed tone.

"Well, I'm sorry if I can't quench my hunger for fucking chocolate!" Cole hissed back.

"Will you two quit it? We need to blend in," Kate cut in a whisper.

The ninja then noticed Chen as he stepped out onto the snake-shaped opening in front of the large group of tattooed, snake-skull wearing men. They also noticed that Chen's men quickly bowed in Chen's presence, so they bowed too in order to not look suspicious.

But clutched in his fist was something the ninja hadn't seen Chen have before: a staff, and this staff was unique. Its tall handle and body was made from obsidian, and there was a golden plate that had the symbol of the Anacondrai tribe on it…but its most head-turning feature was its odd crest. It had the crest of a large, bright white glowing gem.

"Bring out the loser!" Chen called out.

"Let go of Karloff!"

The ninja were surprised to see Karloff being forcefully dragged in by a couple of Chen's men. Karloff was then tossed closer to Chen, and the Master of Metal looked up in confusion at Chen, who was grinning evilly down at Karloff.

"Remember that saying, dear Karloff? 'Only ONE can remain'? I mean, it's like I said: either use them or lose them!" Chen shouted, and then something started to happen between Chen's staff and Karloff.

A bright white beam of ice shot from the crystal of the staff, and it engulfed Karloff, but it looked more like it was practically sucking the soul right out of him. But no sooner had Chen sucked all of Karloff's metallic powers from him did Karloff end up with a star-struck face as he went limp and very weak.

"Did he just…steal his powers?" Kai asked in shock.

"He did. And used ice to do it," Cole replied.

"You don't think he stole Zane's powers too, do you?" Jay questioned in fear.

"What…what happened to my metal?" Karloff asked with shock.

"Your metal? It's simply mine now," Chen began and he laughed maniacally, "but now you are free to go…"

"Really?"

"…to the factory!"

Chen's men then began to drag a thrashing and struggling Karloff away.

"No! No! Let Karloff Go! NOOOO!"

All of the ninja looked at each other because they didn't know what to think of this; of what just happened right in front of them.

"Uh, guys…we might wanna amscray," Lloyd whimpered.

"Why?" Kai questioned.

"The ocolate-chay has been elting-may!" Lloyd replied in fear. And he was right because now the ninja's faces no longer looked like the tattooed faces of Chen's men. It wasn't long before they were compromised.

"Intruders?" Chen asked with surprise, but then the ninja sprinted away before Chen could decide anything else, "No! Don't let them escape! After them!"

The ninja were now being chased by Chen's cronies down the tunnel…but wouldn't you have it, irony was on their side when Cole accidentally triggered the trip-wire when he tripped over it. The trip-wire turn out to activate a large spike metal door that quickly came down and closed, keeping Chen's minions from reaching them.

But it wasn't time to rest yet with large axes made from bones and obsidian suddenly unfolded from the walls, and more suddenly started to fall while getting closer to the ninja.

"Oh no! RUUUUUUN!" Kai yelled, and they wasted no time in doin just that. And they were nearly nicked by the last axe when they were luckily able to dodge it in a smaller opening that led down.

"That sound…it's so…familiar," Jay suddenly said, and everyone was confused at first, but then they realized what he was hearing: hissing and rattling; that is, hissing and rattling of a snake…and a very large one from the sound of it.

So they followed the sound when it sounded like it was coming from down in the tunnel in front of them…but they regret ever looking down the tunnel.

What they saw had to be the second largest snake they've ever seen. It wasn't as big and didn't have a frill or flight-hood like the Great Devourer, but it still looked menacing and very dangerous. It was covered in dark purple scales, but it had blue and green scales on the top of its forehead and snout. It also had a row of spikes running down its neck, and its eyes glowed a intimidating and deadly bright purple. And it sat coiled down below while it shook its large, purple and spike rattle for a tail.

"OH SHIT!" Lloyd suddenly cried.

"Hurry, up here!" Kai called as he and the other ninja wasted not time in using their ninja skills to travel higher to the next set of tunnels above as the purple snake continued to try and snap its jaws and large fangs at them while it sprung up each time.

And when the ninja reached a crawl-space, it was barely enough room for them to get all scrunched up and just out of the monstrous snake's reach. But Kai then scooted back a bit, and he hit a button with his elbow, thus activating a trap-door that dropped them all back into square one: Kai's room.

"Can we not sneak around again? Following the rules probably consists of less wounds," Jay moaned in pain.

"We didn't find Zane, but we found something just as important. My dad lied to us. His tournament was never about glory, it was about him stealing all of our powers," Kate reluctantly explained.

"But why? What could he possibly be planning with everyone's elemental powers and a giant snake?" Lloyd questioned.

"I have no idea. But we're gonna need to play by his rules if we're to ever find out his plans AND find Zane," Kai replied firmly.

"I'm just glad we weren't exactly caught. That was WAY too close," Jay said as he turned around in embarrassment and showed everyone the chomp hole in his pant leg that that monstrous snake took a bite out of.

* * *

Sitting comfortably and calmly in the coils of the huge, purple snake the ninja encountered was Clouse, as he removed the piece of red clothing that was once a part of Jay's pants.

"Well done, my beloved pet. Now we know who the imposters are. Oh, but don't worry—they WILL pay dearly."

* * *

 **My favorite parts of the Ninjago franchise has ALWAYS been the Serpentine. I just loved bringing in and describing Clouse's pet. You guys agree?**

 **Anyway, until the next chapter I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Fire Beats Smoke

**Ok guys, I'm going to try breaking each episode of Ninjago I watch in half. Be honest, guys. Do you want shorter chapters, but a longer story? Or do you want longer chapter,s and a shorter story?**

* * *

Chapter 3 – Fire Beats Smoke

What seemed like the most desolate and dead land would not be able to sustain life…actually had a figure treading over its snow.

Walking over the snow of the tundra lands, with a raging blizzard, but not managing to slow the figure down…was Zane, but he was different.

Instead of the artificial skin that he used to wear to make him look human, now there wasn't a speck of skin to be found on him, but instead just titanium-like skin. And his eyes…his eyes would always glow a bright blue, twenty-four/seven.

But the way he looked was the least of his problems; Zane had not a clue as to where he could possibly be, for the falling snow fell to fast and strong for him to see anything. His only light source was the full moon's light that was trying to seep through some of the thick winter clouds above.

He continued to take a few more steps, and with each one he could hear and feel the snow crunch beneath his feet. But then he stopped, for he heard a terrible sound: CRACK!

* * *

There was nothing but darkness everywhere, but there was something in the black void. It was obviously a beast of some sort because there was growling echoing off the walls. And the creature was right to growl because not five seconds later did a huge patch of ice suddenly fall from above. A lot of powdery snow fell with the icy-platform, and the snow covered the human-shaped figure that originally caused the ice to fall. And from above where the figure fell, was a pale moonlight shining through the hole, illuminating the snow, the ice, and the figure's shiny, metal skin as his eyes glowed blue. When the figure stood, he heard the growling, and though he was reluctant to, Zane wanted to venture further into this dark, icy cavern.

But Zane stopped when he noticed something off…his right arm had come off during the fall; luckily he was not a real human being, so he just picked his arm up and screwed it back on into its 'socket'.

Once that was taken care of Zane looked down into the dark cave as the moonlight illuminated the icy walls beautifully. But he knew he looked a little too far down when he saw two blue orbs, and he knew those orbs could only be one thing: eyes.

The beast that was growling moments ago, and the owner of the glowing blue eyes was a dragon. This dragon looked like a ghost; it was almost transparent, yet it had a silver-ish, blue aura to its scales. And not only that but this dragon looked…really, really familiar to Zane.

But knowing whether or not that Zane has seen this dragon was the least of his problems as he noticed that this huge, ghost-like dragon was getting closer. So the titanium ninja started to back up in fear, but it wasn't long before his back was against the wall.

Even if he did notice the fact that this dragon was wearing a shackle around its neck with chains attached to restrain the beast, Zane knew the chains were short enough to keep the dragon from reaching him. So Zane looked around in panic, but soon he found the hole in which he fell down from above. And not only was the hole still there but so was…a falcon?

" _Zane! Zane, are you there?! If you can hear me, you need to WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"_

* * *

Zane opened his blue-glowing eyes groggily, and he was gasping for breath, despite him being a robot.

Zane was no longer in the tundra lands, he was still chained in a cell on Chen's island. For the event with the dragon was…

"…only a dream," Zane sighed.

"I think that it is absolutely amazing that you can dream…I-I've always wondered what it's like…though, you always were very special."

"Where am I?" Zane questioned, ignoring the feminine voice he heard in the room; the room above and his cell only being divided by a high up and barred hole.

"And…who are you?"

"I'm…I'm P.I.X.A.L., a friend. But you're in danger, and you have to get out. Look, your memory drive is unfortunately out of source, and your elemental powers-!"

"Elemental powers?" Zane asked as he looked around and noticed the shackles chained to both of his wrists, and so he started to pull on them.

"You are a Nindroid, Zane! A ninja! And your friends are here on this island, to save you…but they're having trouble! You NEED to remember, Zane! Remember who you are!"

"Friends…?"

"Remember, Zane! You saved them, and you were rebuilt…there are still things that you have yet to understand about yourself alone…but if we're ever going to have a chance of escaping, you have to remember."

But then something hit Zane, and he smiled.

"P.I.X.A.L….we are compatible."

"Yes, Zane! Very good, you're remembering…and yes, we ARE compatible."

* * *

Down in a secret cave that was Nya's hideout, she was underneath the 'updating' Destiny's Bounty while Wu was standing by.

"I mean, sure, Jay's funny, cute and he always makes me laugh, but…he can be such an ass sometimes when he never takes me seriously," Nya complained as she was working on the Bounty…but also managing to put to sleep as the old man used his staff for support.

"More light, please!"

Nya said louder, and Wu woke up with a snort and switched on the flashlight that he was originally holding in his hand.

"R-right…never takes you seriously," Wu yawned.

"But then there's Cole; handsome, true, and I guess I can connect with him on a much deeper level, but…everything's just a little TOO serious with him. Ya know what I mean? Socket-wrench."

Wu grabbed the requested tool and handed it to the complaining woman.

"Younger emotions can be VERY complicated," Wu pointed out.

"Uh, Sensei...these are needle-nose pliers. I asked for a socket-wrench," Nya said as she realized that she was handed the wrong tool and held it back up for Wu to take back, "and would it kill you to just imply some wisdom?"

"N-no, I wouldn't…but I'm not going to stick my finger into that beehive," Wu protested, but then he looked up and noticed Misako walking in, "any word, Misako?"

"Sadly, no," Misako sighed, "oh, it's been days. There hasn't been a trace of any communication with Garmadon or the ninja…I'm starting to get really worried."

"We're all feeling the worry that haunts you, Misako. So I say you step up on our search," Wu said firmly.

"Well, it's a good thing I made a second mobile base in case Destiny's Bounty was out of the question," Nya cut in as she walked up to one of her computer monitors, and she pressed a button that operated a panel in the center circle.

Rising up on the center-circle was a brand new vehicle. It was like a huge, bulky, elongated and very 'unique' army tank, and its paint was black and dark red.

"It's called The DV-Express…NOT married to the name," Nya announced, but the last part was nervously.

"Be safe, Nya," Misako blessed softly.

"You never need to worry about me!" Nya said with a grin as she started the engine for the DV and drove out of the secret base.

"Hmm…wherever they may be, at least my brother is there to be their guide," Wu reassured.

"This is my husband we're talking about…that's what worry's me."

* * *

The sun was rising over all of Ninjago, and that included Chen's island.

Inside of Chen's temple, the ninja, Garmadon and the other Elemental Masters were all in a line grabbing breakfast.

"Next!" the man(who was also tattooed like the rest of Chen's cronies)at the buffet called, and next in line was Lloyd and Garmadon.

"Like I'm givin' you shit," the man growled at Garmadon.

"Now Son, there's a lesson here to be learned: turn your back on your evil sensei, and you might not be served creamy biscuits," Garmadon whispered to Lloyd, and just walked off with what little food on his tray to find a booth.

"Well, we're being served one thing, and that's sh-."

"Don't say it, Lloyd. We get it," Kate interrupted.

"But you all get my point. This was never a fighting tournament to begin with; it was just some alibi meant to help Chen steal everyone's powers," Lloyd continued to rant in a hushed voice, "but we still don't know why."

"Isn't it obvious? Chen clearly wants that kind of power to destroy and take something," Kai guessed.

"I highly doubt that. From what Garmadon's told us—it sounds like Chen has much bigger plans," Cole added with fear.

"Need I remind you all that we STILL don't know where Zane is?" Jay questioned angrily as the rest of them left the buffet with their trays of food to find where Garmadon went…but there was something else about Jay that made Cole look at him in shock.

"Jay…why are you still in pajamas?" Cole asked with concern.

"Hey, it's my day off!"

"What the hell is wrong with you? 'It's my day off'," Cole mocked Jay angrily.

"Whatever you two have to say to each other, put a sock in it. Keep in mind that holding grudges only hurts yourself," Garmadon growled as the Masters of Earth and Lightning finally got to the booth and sat down.

"He's right. The only ones we're fighting are our opponents, not each other!" Lloyd added.

"Who said I was holding a grudge? I-I already dropped the grudge," Cole lied.

"Yeah? Well, I dropped it first!" Jay protested, only causing the two to get at each others' throats again…and accidentally spill their trays.

"Oh boy…this tournament will test us all, Lloyd. If they don't make peace, neither of them will move on," Garmadon sighed in disappointment as the bickering Cole and Jay.

But suddenly the sound of an air-horn pulled everyone's heads up, and that's when the P.A. system came on.

"The Tournament of Elements continues, whoo-pee! Would the next contestants please make their way to their assigned challenges: Speed, Gravity, Smoke, Nature, Mind. Oh! And last but hopefully not least…" Chen announced but then paused.

"What do ya know? We all get the day off," Jay added with a chuckled…but he jinxed it.

"FIRE!" Chen finished, making Kai gasp, "and remember: only ONE can remain."

* * *

The other Elemental Masters and Chen and Clouse were all gathered in the stone benches and stands of a challenge that took place on a steep and high up cliff.

Not too far from sight of the cliff was a beautiful and lonesome Cherry Blossom tree that grew out on the tip of a piece of cliff the jutted out like a sore thumb. And on the little piece with the tree was Gravis, Master of Gravity, and Griffin Turner, Master of Speed.

Their challenge was to see who could find the Jade Blade hidden within the hundreds of pink blooming branches in the tree.

* * *

Another challenge was between Bolobo, Master of Nature, and Neuro, Master of the Mind.

Their challenge took place is the middle of the huge and dark rock garden, where the gravel was swirled in beautiful patterns.

Their challenge was to see who could fight to get to the Jade Blade that was jammed into a huge boulder in the center of the garden.

* * *

And the final challenge: Kai, Master of Fire vs. Ash, Master of Smoke.

Their challenge took place over a boiling lake of lava, and the only thing connecting their sides of lands was an old, riggidy, wooden bridge. And in the middle of the swaying bridge was a Jade Blade.

Each of these three challenges were all being observed by Chen and Clouse, as well as the other Elemental Masters from their cliff top.

Some of Chen's minions were either banging against drums or chanting while Chen himself was clapping and laughing like a demented child.

"Turner, Master of Speed vs. Gravis, Master of Gravity!" Chen announced as the two said contestants didn't need to wait long with anticipation for Chen's signal, "FIGHT!"

And with that, the two were making their own way to the Cherry Blossom tree.

Gravis used his gravity-manipulation powers while Turner used his unnatural, super speed.

The two Elemental Masters were either floating or racing through the disorienting branches of the tree that chose a really weird place to grow. And every time they moved around, they knocked off many beautiful petals.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bolobo and Neuro were still awaiting Chen's command.

"Neuro, Master of thee Mind vs. Bolobo, Master of Nature! FIGHT!"

It wasn't long before the Masters of the Mind and Nature were starting the challenge.

Neuro clasped both his hands to the side of his head and shut his eyes tight while Bolobo held his nature staff tightly in his fists.

But Lloyd wasn't liking what he was seeing.

"How can anyone call THIS a fight?!" Lloyd asked angrily and loudly over some of the chanting, banging drums and cheers.

"Just be patient," Garmadon growled, and so Lloyd waited for what his father was talking about.

Neuro concentrated his brain waves towards Bolobo, and as he did, he read the Nature Master's very mind; thus being able to see and predict Bolobo's next moves, attacks, even thoughts.

What Neuro saw was that Bolobo was going to attempt to produce many rapidly growing vines that would surround him. So when that actually did happen, Neuro was already a step ahead when he jumped up as he used the growing vines to quickly reach the top of the boulder.

But Bolobo wasn't having it. The Nature Master growled like a barbarian as he banged his staff onto the gravel, and with one loud thud, more vines began to grow, but they grew up from underneath Bolobo. So the new vines were also pushing up to the top of the rock.

* * *

Just like the first two challenges, Kai and Ash were still waiting for Chen.

"Kai, Master of Fire vs. Ash, Master of Smoke—FIGHT!"

But before Kai went on, he pulled up his red ninja mask that covered the lower half of his voice. But still, he wasted no time in going against Ash.

Soon, the Fire Master started to sprint onto and across the bridge, but Ash then jumped harshly onto his end of the bridge; causing huge waves to travel through the whole bridge, and also stopping Kai. The said Master of Fire accidentally lost his footing, and since the bridge had no railing, he grasped the edge of the bridge with one hand before he could fall to a lava-lake demise.

The waves not only caused Kai to fall off, but also the Jade Blade, but it luckily fell onto a rock sticking out of the lava below. But the Jade Blade being even closer to the lave was the least of Kai's problems as Ash started to run out on the bridge too.

"C'mon Kai, you've got this," Lloyd pleaded to himself.

Just when Ash was a quarter across the bridge, Kai used all the strength in his back and legs to swing and kick his way up and through the bridge. Kai then attempted to fall down onto Ash, but the said Master of Smoke only turned into intangible smoke again to dodge Kai.

But the two didn't remain down for long when they turned around and glared at each other. But when Kai went to go and try to hit Ash again, Ash only turned into smoke, and it just kept going every time.

But soon, Ash had had enough when he managed to land a punch to Kai chest, sending the Master of Fire hurtling back into the bridge and even breaking the thick wood planks. So Kai held on for dear life while the lava boiled not far beneath him.

And the whole time, Chen was enjoying this.

* * *

Bolobo and Neuro were still at it when Bolobo finally caught up to Neuro, and this time Neuro didn't predict Bolobo's next move, so he was left helpless when Bolobo made yet another patch of strong vines come up as they wrapped themselves around Neuro…but the Mind Master wasn't done yet.

Neuro viciously ripped the vines, and then he punched Bolobo right back down to square one. And soon, Neuro used his brain waves on Bolobo again.

"You should NEVER underestimate the power of the mind," Garmadon told Lloyd.

"Who said I ever did?" Kate asked with wonder, awaiting what would happen next.

"But last time I checked, nature always wins," Lloyd added with a grin.

Maybe Lloyd was right, but that didn't end the fight wasn't over yet.

Bolobo once again grew another patch of vines, and this time, Neuro didn't see it coming as the vines wrapped viciously around Neuro's shoulders and torso.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gravis and Turner's little showdown was still going on too as the two were STILL searching through the blossoms and branches for the Jade Blade. But they were also trying to slow each other down.

Sometimes, whenever Gravis would come floating through, Turner would come sprinting out of nowhere and knock Gravis back against another branch. But Gravis wasn't going to made a fool, for when Turner was busy laughing, Gravis used his powers to pull on a branch and then release it, slapping Turner back.

And the childish fight of slapping each other with branches only continued. And Turner somehow managed to let himself get attacked by…flying blossoms.

* * *

Kai was still hanging by the rope edge of the bridge that was now broken, but Kai knew how to get back up.

"NINJA-GO!"

Kai used his fiery Spinjitzu as he flew back up and onto parts of the bridge that were NOT broken yet. And the fight continued from there.

"C'mon, Kai!" Kate pleaded.

"Use your fire!" Lloyd added.

"FIRE!" Kai cried as he shot missiles of fire from his fists at Ash. But of course, Ash only turned to smoke and ashes every time to dodge the fire.

* * *

Bolobo was struggling, not as much as Neuro, but still struggling to think as to what he should do; he has Neuro in his grasp, but if he suddenly leaves to get the Jade Blade, Neuro would be free and Bolobo was not going to take that chance.

But then Bolobo had it. He laughed at poor Neuro as he created another large vine to reach up and retrieve the blade for him…but Neuro had had enough.

He managed to break his arms free, and he sent more brain waves towards Bolobo again, but these waves were different. These waves didn't just read Bolobo's mind, but they also hurt it.

And while Bolobo was grasping his head and grunting in pain, the vines around Neuro let go and loosened, and Neuro took that chance to get back to retrieving the Jade Blade.

And it was a victory for Neuro as Bolobo remained helplessly with a migraine, and so Neuro grabbed the Jade Blade and held it up high.

"The winner: Neuro! And the Loser—Bolobo!" Chen announced as he pressed a button on the panel built into his throne, and a trap-door below Bolobo opened, and the Nature Master dropped down, down, down.

"The Master of the Mind moves on!" Chen added.

* * *

Turner and Gravis had given up their child's play and had gotten back to looking for the Jade Blade. But it wasn't long before Gravis FINALLY found the hidden blade. So the Master of Gravity used his powers to levitate the blade to him, but…

Turner came out of nowhere and grabbed the floating Jade Blade.

"The winner and the one that moves on: Griffin Turner! And the loser—Gravis!" Chen called as he pressed another button…but do to the fact that Gravis was the Master of Gravity, he didn't fall down since he was still floating.

But Chen didn't give up easily; he only pressed another button, and that dropped a sand-bag from…the tree…and when the bag hit Gravis, he then fell into the caverns below.

"How many buttons does that fuck-nut have?" Turner questioned as he had no idea there were trap-doors out on this cliff or sand-bags in trees in the first place…well, now ya know.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ash and Kai were still going at it: Ash turning to smoke to doge each of Kai's fire attacks flying towards him. But unfortunately, after Ash turned to smoke to dodge another fire ball, it accidentally lit the other half of the bridge on fire!

And from atop the cliff in which everyone was watching the fight, Clouse thought he'd take matters into his own dark magic-wielding hands, but that was when Chen fiercely grabbed Clouse's arm and stopped him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I wanna see where this is going to go," Chen hissed, and Clouse only rolled his eyes at his master.

Back with the fight between the Masters of Smoke and Fire, Ash turned to smoke to fly across a large gap to get to Kai, and when he reached him, Ash took Kai in a choke hold. But the fire ninja wasn't down yet; Kai shot another fire ball at the weakest point in the middle of the bridge, and so the bridge finally broke with the Elemental Masters still on it.

But luckily, the two men managed to land on to separate rocks directly across from each other, and smack-dab in the middle of them, wedged in a rock, was the Jade Blade.

So Ash and Kai jumped up to the middle rock and started fighting each other in mid-air, only for their hits to send them both back again. But then Ash jumped over to Kai's rock, and tried to push him off, only for Kai to catch him in time. Now they were budding heads like deer.

But then Ash had an idea; he turned to smoke again to fly over to the center rock and get the blade, but that only opened a door fir Kai. The said fire ninja then jumped through Ash's intangible smoke body and he pulled the blade out of the rock, and landed on a rock on the other side.

The challenge was over.

"Winner: Kai!" Chen called, and the ones cheering the loudest were the ninja and Garmadon…even Skylar was jumping for joy.

"Kai moves on, but Ash—you're OUT!" Chen called, as he pressed yet another button, activating a trap-door that was placed directly under Ash. So like Gravis and Bolobo, Ash fell down into the mysterious caverns below.

And since Kai knew what was down there, despite that it was his victory, he regretted it.

* * *

Chen was sitting in his throne in the throne room with Clouse by his side, as his Kabuki danced gracefully around the room with large, colorful paper fans.

"Master, we know the intruders were who snuck in that night, and yet, we let them move on. Please, let me use my magic to put an end to them," Chen growled as his hand was engulfed in a dark purple, shadowy aura.

"Fear not, my student. You will get to use your precious powers—just not now. There are other ways for us to 'bring them down'. We'll be 'switching up' the competition," Chen said as he chuckled darkly.

* * *

 **And I think I need a little help guys. Star(not my OC, she's Kairocksrainbow's)is an Elemental Master, so it would make sense if she were to either compete or somehow get her powers stolen by Chen, right? My only problem is I don't know how I'm going to do that yet. So if someone has an idea as to who she could fight in a challenge, or something like that, do tell me your ideas.**

 **Anyway, until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	4. Chapter 4 - Fight Lost, Ninja Found

**...**

 **I actually don't have anything to say right now.**

* * *

Chapter 4 – Fight Lost, Ninja Found

All of the other Elemental Masters were gathered around the board that displayed who's competing against who next, and they were all making a bit of a fuss over it…which concerned the ninja as they went to check out the board too.

"What…no…they can't do this!" Cole said as he was breathless with shock.

What they saw on the board was just terrible; the next challenge was going to be…Jay vs. Cole. The ninja immediately regretted looking at the board now.

"They already did," Lloyd sighed.

"But…then we have no choice but to fight EACH OTHER!" Cole went on.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I may hate your guts, Cole, but I don't want to fight you!" Jay said while panicking.

"Ditto!" Cole added.

"Is there a problem here?"

The dark voice of Clouse made them all turn towards Chen's right-hand man as he came walking up to the board too.

"This isn't fair! You can't just change the brackets like this!" Cole snarled.

"Oops. I must've gone a little dyslexic again," Clouse shrugged sarcastically, and then turned away to walk away while chuckling darkly.

But that was when Garmadon decided to show up.

"Dad, what do we do?! They can't fight each other!"

"You cannot undo what has already been done, Lloyd. My only advice to you all is to wing it."

"WING IT?!"

Jay was now all up in Garmadon's face.

"One of us has to fucking lose now, and you're telling us to just wing it?! Oh Jesus, I'm totally going to be the one to lose! I don't have unnatural strength! Quick! Someone tell me: WHAT DO I HAVE?!" Jay panicked.

"Calm down, Jay. You have us; you always do. But maybe we won't have to worry about this next fight if we just keep trying to look for Zane and then get off this island," Kate reassured.

"Kate's right. The fight isn't until late tonight anyway," Star added.

But then Kai placed his hand on his chin as he thought of something.

"And I think I have the perfect person in mind to help—and I think he already knows that."

* * *

The full moon had risen into the sky, as it's beautiful light had also touched Chen's island.

Out in a center plaza outside of the temple, Neuro was out alone atop a boulder while holding his hands to his head again; he was there because he knew he needed to be.

"We need your help, Neuro."

The husky voice of the Green Prophet was not needed to make Neuro aware of his and the other ninja's presence.

"You think I can get into to Chen's mind, and then help you find your robotic friend so that you can leave the island before the fight," Neuro said without even turning around or opening his eyes.

"But we-," Kai started.

"You still need to find out what Chen's hiding."

"Impressive, Nerd-o," Jay joked.

That was what finally made Neuro turn and open his silver eyes.

"It's Neuro, Jackass. Master of the Mind, too," Neuro said angrily but calmly, "oh, and Cole thinks Jay won't last two minutes into the fight."

"What?! You think that?!" Jay snapped.

"Hwy, you said it yourself that you'd lose!" Cole snapped back.

"Yeah, but you're not supposed to friggin' believe it!" Jay said as he elbowed Cole in the stomach, but Cole didn't want another fight to start before the real one.

"No offense, Cole, but Jay thinks you're the LEAST valuable ninja on the team," Neuro added.

"Is that so?" Cole asked slowly and angrily as he grinded his teeth and glared at Jay.

"We want you to help us, Neuro, not make things worse," Lloyd cut in angrily while splitting Jay and Cole apart.

"Oh? And why would I do that? You're only mere competition to me; the sooner you're all out, the better for me."

"You think we're in this just for us? We're not, it's about everyone here now. Look into my mind, and you'll see why," Lloyd demanded firmly, and Neuro didn't waste time to see if Lloyd was lying or not.

But Neuro didn't expect to see Chen stealing Karloff's metal powers down in secret chamber.

"It's only a matter of time before Chen steals you power too, Neuro," Kate added.

"So are you in?" Lloyd questioned.

"Hmm…"

* * *

Despite being a machine, Zane was almost breathless while he was still trying to pull and break free from his shackles.

"Zane, you are built very differently. You need to search DEEP within yourself!" P.I.X.A.L. called down.

Zane sat quietly for a minute to regain energy, but that was when he felt on odd sensation in his right wrist. He observed it, and he soon triggered a little panel which then revealed a little spinning saw in his wrist.

"Yes! Yes, that's it, Zane! You're remembering!" P.I.X.A.L. said with joy as Zane used the little saw to start to cut through the shackle, as he then operated the saw in his other wrist.

"Who are you bettin'?"

The voice from a guard pulled Zane from his glance at that chains being cut.

"Eh…definitely Cole, man."

Zane could tell that the guards were getting closer and closer, which made him panic as he looked at the little window on his cell's door and back at his shackles. But luckily, before a guard could peep inside, Zane had already put the saws away, and he pretended to go back to sleep.

It wasn't long before the guards lost interest, as they left with a suspicious growl.

"It's not faith. You have to break out of here before the fight!" P.I.X.A.L. added with fear.

"You mean WE have to break out."

…

"Of course."

* * *

Chen's Kabuki were all 'putting on their faces' in their dressing room, but it was also Chen's dressing room…perfect for Neuro.

The said Master of the Mind was sneaking around, trying not to get caught by any of the girls, and it was then that he spotted Chen's larger dressing room that was just for him.

"This area is restricted."

Clouse's voice startled Neuro, but he didn't show it. Neuro was soon face-to-face with Clouse himself.

"Clouse! I-I was just leaving," Neuro said as he forced a smile.

"Don't think I didn't see you talking with the ninja. Wouldn't it be such a shame if the other fighters found out you were—helping them?"

"Forget about it. I'm Neuro, Master of the Mind; I'm smarter than that," Neuro replied softly, only distracting Clouse as he was secretly sending brain waves to Clouse's mind, thus reading it.

And with that, Neuro was able to leave; Clouse's red eyes not leaving him until he was completely put of sight.

* * *

Finding Zane before tonight's fight just wasn't possible because the fight was now just about to begin.

Chen, Clouse, Chen's cronies, the ninja along with Garmadon and all of the other Elemental Masters were all gathered inside of a large stadium that was a few good yards away from Chen's temple.

Of course, everyone already knows that the fight is between Cole and Jay, and their challenge is to see who can fight for the Jade Blade that's wedged between the jaws of a snake statue that was winding down and around a tall wooden pole in the center of the arena.

Jay and Cole each sat inside a small barred chamber on opposite sides of the arena to separate them before the real fight.

Jay was inside of his chamber, but he wasn't sitting doing nothing, oh no. Jay was punching a slug-bug…with Cole's picture taped to it for 'motivation'.

And outside of Jay's chamber was Kai, as the fire ninja was keeping an eye on him.

"He thinks he's got an easy fight…well, I'll show that bastard!" Jay grunted as he continued to punch Cole's picture. But he soon had enough of just punching, so Jay used his lightning to fry and explode the slug-buddy.

And at first, Jay was laughing at what he did…but when he looked down at the almost burnt picture of Cole on the ground, he started to realize that he might've taken it too far.

But just like how Kai was watching over Jay, Lloyd was looking after Cole in his chamber as the Master of Earth was also punching a slug-buddy as it also had a picture of his opponent.

But when Cole landed one last hard punch and sent the slug-buddy flying back, he made a mistake when he turned around victoriously as the slug-buddy came swinging back and knocked Cole against the bars.

"Ow! Son of a bitch!" Cole grunted angrily as he had enough and started to use Spinjitzu to finally take down his slug-buddy…but when he stopped spinning, and he looked down at Jay's picture that was almost completely drowning in dirt…he regretted it.

But it was right around this time that Neuro came running into the arena, almost out of breath.

"You were cutting in really close. Did you get into his head?" Kai asked as Neuro was catching his breath in front of him.

"I'm sorry, but couldn't get past Clouse."

"Good. That only leaves a chance for Cole and I to finally end our feud," Jay cut in angrily.

"But…I did see something. For a brief moment, I was able to look into Clouse's mind; what I saw was a thick, old book that was chock-full of ancient spells. For what? I have no idea, but Clouse was reading an odd spell that's on page one-hundred-forty-nine," Neuro added with a smile, but then his smile turned into a frown, "I am truly sorry I was not able to stop the fight. If I could have done, I would have."

"It's ok. You did what you could," Kai said as he placed a reassuring hand on Neuro's shoulder.

Meanwhile, even if Lloyd and Cole couldn't hear what Neuro and Kai were saying, they could tell by their body language that it didn't go well, making Lloyd sigh.

"You don't have to say it, Lloyd. It was inevitable that we were going to have to face each other at some point," Cole sighed as he placed his hands around the bars.

"I know, but…this just wasn't what I had in mind. I can't just 'wing it' like my dad told us to, but that doesn't mean you and Jay still can't make peace with each other," Lloyd said firmly yet sadly, "we don't have control of who or when we fight here, but we have control of HOW we fight. Jay is not your enemy, Chen is."

"Ya know, Wu once said that the best way to defeat your enemy is to make them your friend—but how are you supposed to defeat your friend?" Cole pointed out.

But just when Cole finished his sentence, the bars on his and Jay's chambers started to go down. The fight was starting.

Since Jay and Cole decided to wear their ninja gis for this event, they pulled up their ninja masks over the lower halves of their faces as they walked out into the arena, and Kai, Lloyd and Neuro headed to the stands to watch.

"You did your best, but now the rest is up to them," Garmadon said firmly as Kai and Lloyd took their seats with Garmadon, Kate and Star.

"I just hope they know what to do," Kate pleaded softly, so Lloyd pulled her close to comfort her.

"Let the tournament continue! Jay, Master of Lightning vs. Cole, Master of-!" Chen tried to announce, but Cole and Jay didn't let him finish as they sprinted out towards each other; they clearly didn't want to waste time to start this fight.

The two ninja started to use their Elemental powers, but they only dodged their attacks.

"Ha! Is that REALLY the best you can do, Cole?!"

"EAT DIRT, BLUE-BELL!"

And with that, Cole fired more dirt at Jay, only for Jay to fry the dirt with his lightning, and it just went on.

And back up in the stands, Chen was bouncing in his throne.

"Ooh, Clouse, go get me some popcorn! This is turning out better way better than I ever thought!"

* * *

The chains and shackles that used to hold Zane were now empty as the said titanium ninja was now using the little saws in his wrists to cut away to bars on the hole, so that soon Zame could get into the room P.I.X.A.L. was trapped in.

"Hurry Zane! The guards are about to make their round!"

But right after P.I.X.A.L. finished her sentence, Zane had already cut through the last bar, and then he crawled through and fell a few feet down into the room.

"Don't worry. I'm through now," Zane said in a hushed voice.

Now Zane had to look around for P.I.X.A.L., but…all he saw was the faint light of a single computer monitor, and there were scraps of very familiar robot parts either scattered across the desk of in boxes.

"P.I.X.A.L….you were…"

"Scrapped. I know, but how could I tell you when you needed to get out of here?" P.I.X.A.L. sighed sadly as Zane went around the desk, and he was greeted by a small image of P.I.X.A.L. on the monitor.

"My journey ends here, Zane—but yours continues."

Zane was quiet.

"Zane, please understand that you must go alone and save your friends. And don't worry about me—I will always be a part of you."

Zane could only hug the monitor, but then what P.I.X.A.L. said hit him. And so he looked at the chip that was most likely what contained P.I.X.A.L. as it was plugged into the computer.

"You're right. You will ALWAYS be a part of me," Zane said as he smiled and reached for the chip.

"What are you-u-?"

But before P.I.X.A.L. could finish talking, her voice glitched out and the monitor went dark as Zane removed the chip from the computer and…he placed into a slot in the back of his head.

After a few seconds, a digitalized panel appeared in the upper corner of Zane's vision, and on that panel was P.I.X.A.L.

"Zane…you've taken my neural drive and imputed it into your processor! You are ingenious!" P.I.X.A.L. said with joy.

"Not ingenious, upgraded. I'm sure there are many other things you and I can find out together, but until then-," Zane explained, but P.I.X.A.L. clearly saw something he didn't as she made a flashing, red, warning light appear in Zane's head.

"ZANE, LOOK OUT! BEHIND YOU!"

But P.I.X.A.L. was too late.

By the time Zane turned around, he had already been touched by the charged end of a tazer in Clouse's hand, and soon the high frequency of electricity made Zane shut down, or in other terms 'pass out'.

"I suppose it was my mad master's fault that he thought you wouldn't be able to cut through those chains," Clouse growled, "but if it weren't for his childish request for popcorn, I never would have found you."

* * *

The fight between Jay and Cole only continued, as the two continued to throw their elements at each other.

"Don't make promises your mouth can't keep, Cole!"

"Oh, but I'm lookin' forward to the best peace and quiet I'll ever experience when you're out of this FUCKING TOURNAMENT!"

And with that, Cole used a large blast of heavy rocks, and it knocked back Jay; luckily he wasn't that badly hurt…but Cole still wished he hadn't done that.

"What the hell are we doing?! I-I never wanted you out! I realize that you're not my enemy, Jay! Chen is!"

"Oh, sure…you think you can play me that easily? You think that you can lower my guard by suddenly pretending to be my friend…you're a terrible actor, and you're so FUCKING PREDICTABLE!"

Jay then produced more strands of lightning, but he kept them towards the ground and close to his sides as he walked closer to Cole.

"Jay, I don't wanna hurt, and I never would…not if I knew it would destroy our friendship…and everything I said, I take back!"

"Well, then…if we're being completely honest right now, I was really scared of losing Nya, but I take blame for that…I was more scared to lose you, Cole. We were always such good friends."

"The best, even. We should never had bottled this up."

"Agreed," Jay said as he started to calm down, and even his lightning started to fade away, "but now what are we gonna do? We can't BOTH win!"

"Maybe they'll call it a tie if we just trot it out. Attack me, but…not hard!"

And with that, they ran towards each other, bit neither of them used their powers; they only tried to land hits on each other, only to dodge each one on purpose.

"What in sane hell is this?! This is boring!" Chen complained as he threw his popcorn at one of his cronies' faces…but then Chen grinned and pressed a button, "RELEASE THE CONDRAI-CRUSHERS!"

This totally ruined Jay and Cole's first idea because now, numerous other doors were opening all around the arena. And what came out of the doors were four very odd fighting vehicles with dark purple and black paint, they had bodies in the shape of a snake's head, there was a pair of spinning saws at the front, and they even a tail that looked like a scorpion's tail.

The vehicles called 'Condrai-Crushers' all circled around Jay and Cole, and the two were trying to think as to what they should now.

"This looks bad! You've got my back, right Cole?!"

"Only if you have mine!"

But suddenly, one of the Condrai-Crushers changed its course and started to speed towards the two Elemental Masters. But Jay and Cole only used Spinjitzu to quickly move out of the way, and so the crony driving ended up in a terrible accident as he probably died when the vehicle crashed into the arena walls.

"Looks like I'm not the only one that listens to you," Lloyd said with a grin to his dad, as the two of them and the other ninja were cheering to see Cole and Jay finally make up and fight together.

Meanwhile, now that there were only three Condrai-Crushers, Chen's cronies knew they had to step it up. So one also started to drive towards Cole and Jay.

But Cole was going to let him have it as he ran in front of the vehicle, jumped up into the air and smashed his fists back down onto the ground, creating an earthy ramp for the Condrai-Crusher to fly high up into the air.

And while that one was in the air, Cole grabbed the rail of the second one, so that when the first came falling back down, he smashed the two together and they ended up smashed against the wall and good as dead like the other guy.

Now, the last crony driving was freaking out, as he did NOT want to turn out like the other three. But he knew facing Chen or Clouse would be worse, so he kept driving and then started towards Cole and Jay.

But now it was Jay's turn. Jay ran and used the running start to jump up and over the last Condrai-Crusher. And Jay wasn't aiming for landing behind it, he landed on the vehicle right behind the drover, and the window for escape was not an option for the driver as Jay not only used his electrical powers to hack into and stop the vehicle, but he was also frying the driver.

And just when the Condrai-Crusher had lost all of its power and stopped just before it could run over Cole, the driver had also exploded from too much power; his guts and blood flying everywhere, except somehow Cole and Jay. Those two didn't get a speck of blood or guts on them.

"ENOUGH!"

Chen's shrill voice silenced everyone in the arena as he angrily stood from his throne.

"I know what you are trying to do! So if neither of you will try to win, then BOTH of you will lose!" Chen shouted as he reached for the panel of buttons on his throne, and cheers started to arise back up from everyone, except the ninja and Garmadon.

But this meant trouble for Jay and Cole. As Chen started cascading his arms over every button, hundreds of pieces of the floor in the ring started to drop, leaving standing-grounds dwindling into single digits. So Jay and Cole had to use their elite ninja skills to jump onto the next best place to stand, but it wouldn't last long.

Cole then looked up at the Jade Blade that was stuck between the statue snake's jaws.

"Chen's right, there an only be one!" Cole called.

"Then it should be you! You were right, I'd never have a fighting chance!" Jay shouted back, "just take the blade!"

And with a lot of reluctance, Cole ran up to the pole while jumping over any holes that suddenly appeared, and then he started to climb to pole. But though it wasn't long before Cole reached the top and grasped the Jade Blade, he knew it just wasn't mean to be his victory…so he tossed it over to Jay, and Jay had no choice but to catch it.

"Winner: Jay! Loser: Cole! The Lightning Master moves on!" Chen called.

"She's yours, Jay. I should've bailed out that long ago—win this," Cole said firmly yet softly a he climbed down the pole, and just before he could place a foot on what ever ground was left, Chen pressed a button and Cole fell down.

"It's about damn time," Chen growled as he plopped back into his throne.

"Cole may be out, but he never lost. Let what he did be a lesson: Know thy enemy, but more importantly—know thy friend," Garmadon reassured the ninja, "Cole fought like a TRUE ninja."

* * *

Driving out on the only desolate road that cut through the Sea of Sand was the DV-Express as Nya was driving it alone. But as she was watching the road…an old friend came flying up in front of the wind-shield and landed on the hood of the vehicle.

"Why did you come back?" Nya questioned as she took a quick glance at Zane's falcon, and then she went back to watching the road.

It was then that Nya looked at one of the computers in front of her that held a map of Ninjago, for she had tried to type in numerous codes to locate the ninja, but never found anything…until now.

When Nya pressed the reset button, the map when all over the place, but it wasn't long until the locator stopped on a small dot on the map that seemed to be many miles from the coast.

"That…that can only be Zane's signal, and it's strong…but that's impossible!" Nya said with shock, but then she dialed a number in the DV-Express' built-in phone.

"What is it, Nya?"

"Sensei Wu—I think I found the ninja!"

* * *

 **That he did, Garmadon. That he did.**

 **Now, Maniac at Midnight did have an absolutely wonderful idea as to what can happen to Star...don't worry! It's not Death! All I'm saying is thank you, Maniac at Midnight...but I said I MIGHT use the idea if no one else can come up with any more ideas. C'mon guys, show me what'cha got!**

 **But until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Teamwork Beats All

**Ok, when I was watching the episode "Ninja Roll", I was not able to find where I could split the episode into two chapters. So I went and just left it into one big chapter. Alright?**

 **Anyway, Maniac at Midnight gave me a good idea as to what I could do to Star that won't kill her, hurt her or anyone else, and so that the story will move on easier. So Kairocksrainbow, I hope you like it, along with everyone else.**

 **Oh, and HAPPY 2016!**

* * *

Chapter 5 – Teamwork Beats All

Late at night, there was a terrible thunder storm raging with high winds and piercing rain over Chen's island, but one person in particular person could be found running through the blinding storm in search of the right building that held the next battle.

The reason Kai was in such a hurry was because he was unfortunately the bearer of bad tidings, and he had to get to the ninja and Garmadon.

Meanwhile, in the said challenge where it was inside a warm, sheltered building; Jacob and Skylar's challenge was to find the Jade Blade hidden within one of the numerous large vases spread throughout the room.

The large-dark-afro man with starry sunglasses and a lute, one would question why his only weapon is in fact his lute. While Skylar's weapon was a cross-bow with a quiver of arrows on her back.

"Skylar, Master of Amber vs. Jacob Pevsner—FIGHT!"

It was then that Jacob started playing some off-key notes on his lute, but it was as if he could see and feel the sound waves from his own instrument like a bat or a dolphin.

"Hmm…eenie…meenie…miney-mo…catch a Jade Blade…BY ITS TOE!" Skylar chanted as she pointed the end of her cross-bow at different vases, but when she pointed at the one to her back left, she fired an the arrow shattered the vase. And despite it being empty, shattering the worthless vase was just a distraction for Jacob.

After Skylar retrieved her arrow and hid behind a pillar, Jacob played another set of off-key notes and used them to find his way around; the waves even notified him where Skylar was. And when Skylar new she'd been compromised, she fired yet another arrow.

But Skylar seemed to have underestimated Jacob as the seemingly blind man dodged the arrow by suddenly using parkour, but he wasn't done there. Since he knew where Skylar was, Jacob played a different set of notes that had such a higher frequency that the sound waves shattered the vase Skylar was standing in front of before she moved out of the way in time.

But shattering the vase was also a bad idea when one of the pieces of shattered glass accidentally struck Skylar's lip, causing it to bleed, and she would've fatally bled-out if it weren't for it just being her lip. And when Skylar recovered and tapped a finger on her bleeding lip, only to find a huge blotch of blood dripping down her index finger…oh, Skylar was pissed.

Still, Skylar and the poor vases weren't the only ones affected by Jacob's music; Garmadon, Lloyd, Kate and Jay were all up on the other level, along with a few other Elemental Masters(not all of them attended this event)as the four of them covered their ears for a second when the high-frequency waves hit them.

"I'll be damned if I said the Master of Sound hasn't gotten stronger since I last remembered," Garmadon sighed with amazement after they uncovered their ears.

"I find it interesting that he uses sound waves to see…is Jacob-?"

"Blind? Not exactly, Kate. True, he has terrible sight, like that of a bat, and that is why he uses sound waves from his lute that has been passed down through generations of the Elemental Masters of Sound; that lute produces sounds that act as sonar waves that help Jacob be aware of his surroundings," Garmadon explained as the fight below continued.

Jacob was looking for Skylar again, but he didn't know that the said Elemental Master was actually right behind him, sneaking up and around some pillars and vases. And Skylar was suddenly able to go up to Jacob and lightly tap his shoulder and hide again while going completely unnoticed the entire time.

But when Jacob felt the light tap, he smashed the nearest vase and pulled out some throwing stars. When Jacob then assumed that Skylar was out of hiding, he started throwing each of the throwing stars, each in a new direction. But Skylar was able to easily dodge each of the stars by propelling herself into the air and flipping to dodge hair-splitting contact with the flying weapons.

"U-uh, excuse me…excuse me…don't mind me, just passin' threw," Kai said nervously as he tried to wiggle past some angry and distrustful looking masters, but that was the least of his problems when he saw his friends and finally reached them.

"Oh, thank goodness I finally found you guys," Kai said as he was breathless and he also sounded worried, making the others concerned too.

"What wrong with you?" Jay questioned.

"It's Star."

"What about her?" Lloyd asked.

"She's gone."

"What do you mean she's gone?" Garmadon asked firmly.

"What else would I mean? When I didn't see her leave with you guys to go see the next challenge, I went to go get her when I left…but when I got to her room…she wasn't there," Kai explained with fear.

"Oh no…you don't think my dad kidnapped her, do you?"

"Don't worry, Kate. I-I'm sure she's just fine," Lloyd reassured.

"You may as well be right about that, Son. Chen may have a dark and twisted mind, and he would use what he can to cheat and win—but he would never resort to kidnapping or murder…I don't think."

"Wow, it's real nice to know we have you to give us courage, Garmadon," Jay added sarcastically.

But suddenly, it seemed that the sadness was knocked clear out of the park when Kai suddenly looked down and noticed Skylar.

"Oh shit!" Kai hissed with fear as he hid behind Jay.

"What's wrong with him?" Garmadon questioned.

"He has, well—HAD a rush on her…until he found out she bends fire," Jay replied dryly.

"But Skylar's not the Master of Fire too."

"Do what?" Kai perked up.

"Skylar is the Master of Amber; she can-."

But Garmadon's sentence was suddenly interrupted when a dart came flying through the air with a whistle and nearly impaled Kate, but the Master of Absorption suddenly grabbed the end of the dart just when its sharp point was inches away from one of her blind eyes.

The cause of the dart was from Jacob when they had forgotten when Jacob broke another vase and grabbed out a small tube with some blow-darts. And now, the master of Sound was trying to shoot Skylar with the thin darts, but he missed each time.

And while Jacob was distracted again by one of Skylar's clever diversions, Skylar was able to sneak up to and break the correct vase that contained the Jade Blade. And when she claimed it, the challenge was filed under 'Over'.

"Winner: Skylar! Loser: Jacob Pevsner—hope to HEAR from you soon, Jakey!" Chen maniacally laughed as he activated another trap-door for Jacob to fall down into.

But out of all of the cheers in the room, Kai's cheers were the loudest and filled with the most spirit. He may not have found out what Skylar's Elemental Powers can do, but he found out enough to rekindle his 'burning desire' for her.

"I hope my tournament has been as entertaining to you all as it has to me. And to say thanks, I was going to give each and everyone here jewels and unimaginable treasures…"

Everyone, except the ninja and Garmadon, started to cheer for Chen's announcement as he beheld a huge platter of treasures in front of him…but then he snarled and threw them away.

"But…I changed my mind when in yesterday's challenge, Cole and Jay REFUSED TO FIGHT AND PISSED ME OFF!"

Now, all of the other Elemental Masters glared and growled at the ninja, Jay in particularly.

"So as punishment, I was going to have Jay's fancy and luxurious room taken away for the night—but since I don't want poow wittwe Jay to get wonwey—YOU'RE ALL GOING TO SLEEP TOGETHER IN THE CHOW HOUSE!"

Chen's anger was crystal clear when he grabbed a diamond, and literally shattered it with the single squeeze of his fist. And he only ignored the pain of his cut and bleeding hand.

"Thanks a lot, Asshole."

"Hey, hey, hey! Whoa there, Kai! Who's side are you on?!" Jay snapped.

"Guys, c'mon. They're not important, and you know that. We never came here to make friends, we came here to save ours," Lloyd cut in firmly as he split the Fire and Lightning Masters apart.

"That is still true, but your extrusion of others have only made you more enemies. Remember The Golden Rule here: treat others the same way you would want to be treated…so unless you want to be treated like a prick, I suggest you stop treating the other masters like one," Garmadon explained firmly.

* * *

Down in Chen's dark chambers, and locked away in a cell was one particular Elemental Master who was in prison orange clothes and REALLY wasn't happy to be down here.

"YOU CAN TAKE AWAY MY CLOTHES, MY POWERS AND MAYBE EVEN MY DIGNITY, BUT YOU CAN NEVER TAKE AWAY MY STRENGTH!"

Cole was absolutely roaring with rage as he reached for the bars in the small opening on his cell door, and soon tried to pry them open with his bare hands…but to no avail.

"Well…at least not mentally…" Cole sighed in defeat as he then gave up and slumped down with his back against the door. But then Cole's head perked up when he heard approaching footsteps, and then he heard a key being inserted into and turned in the lock of his cell door; Cole then jumped back up to his feet seconds before the door was pulled open, revealing Clouse with a few guards.

"You're letting me go?"

"Hell no! You're going where all the other losers of the tournament went: 'The Factory'," Clouse replied darkly.

"Facto-?! What the fuck kind of factory?! And why the hell would I do a damn thing for you, ya little piece of shit!"

But Clouse didn't reply as he had the guards take Cole out of the cell and place chains on his wrists behind his back. And then they pushed him forward when Cole was too stubborn to walk at first. And after a few minutes of walking or stomping, they finally reached a new part of the underground caverns and tunnels that was a set of large and heavy doors.

From the other side, the doors were mechanically pushed open…and the sight before Cole put him in a daze. It was exactly what Clouse said it would be: a factory; it was filled with many machines and conveyor belts carrying or making and cooking food…that food mostly being noodles.

"So this is where Chen's food is made…well, could've been worse; people could've been made into the food," Cole said with amazement at first, but then it turned to a shrug.

"But don't think we won't if you don't follow the rules," Clouse whispered into Cole's ear as he lead the Earth Master to his station while also removing the chains…and Cole was also freaked out.

"Oh, and one more thing. The number one and only rule in here is NO EATING THE MERCHANDISE!" Clouse announced with a growl before he left the factory.

"WHAT?! No eating the merchandise?! No! please! Take me back to the cell; it'd be better to get three square-meals a day then to watch all this delectable stuff go by and not be able to eat any of it! PLEASE!" Cole pleaded like he were a starving stray dog, and he would've ran after Clouse if a guard with a spear hadn't stopped him and lead him back to his post; Cole's post being watching delicious noodles go by on a belt…and he didn't notice that he was also standing next to Karloff until now.

"Oh jeez, Karloff. I forgot you were down here," Cole said nervously as he also noticed that what used the be the Elemental Master of Metal was also powerless and wearing orange prison clothes.

"Try not to worry so much. After awhile, it not so bad," Karloff said as he pulled a lever that chopped the noodles, and since that was also Cole's job, he followed Karloff's gestures.

"Well, I for one think this all sucks like hell!"

A new voice that sounded stuffed up and nasal attracted Cole's attention, and he was surprised at who he saw was on the other side of the noodle-chopping machine who was the one who was handling and laying the noodles along the belt.

"Jacob?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's my, Rocky. But the bigger picture here is for us to get the hell out of here," Jacob replied dryly.

"Good luck, Bat Man. Even if there was a way out of factory, there is still damnable guards guarding the factory entrances and then there's the damnable large snake guarding the tunnels."

"My name isn't 'Bat Man', Metal-Head—it's Jacob Pevsner. And you've given up hope, my friend; that's not a good thing to do considering where you're at right now. I still believe, and so does Cole. Right buddy?" Jacob asked with a smile as he leaned to his right…but Cole wasn't to his right.

"I'm on your left," Cole reluctantly pointed out in a whisper.

"Oh, uh…you really are a sneaky ninja, aren't ya?" Jacob joked while trying not to look more stupid, only to clearly fail again.

* * *

Night had blanketed over Ninjago City, but there were a few more things then just mice still scurrying.

Out in front of Chen's Noodle House were two big box trucks with the Anacondrai tribe symbols on the sides, as a few of Chen's cronies were moving boxes of food packed in boxes into the back of the restaurant; each of the men wore jackets with their hoods up to hide their tattoos and fangs.

But despite how sneaky they may think they are, Chen's minions were being watched from a few yards away by Nya in the DV-Express as she remained hidden in a dark alley.

"So the trucks disappear only at night? But where to?" Wu's voice emerged through the built-n phone in the vehicle.

"I have know idea, which is why they're about to have a tail," Nya replied with a grin as she hung up, but then she flipped a switch on the panel in front of her, "Activate replica software."

And with that, the high-tech software of the DV-Express was able to cloak itself and instantly looked like one of the food trucks, and so Nya drove off and followed the convoy.

But just before Nya drove off, she never noticed that old Darreth was at the front counter inside Chen's restaurant.

"What?! What do you mean there's no more Goddamn puffy pot-stickers?!" Darreth complained to the register.

"Hey, I'm not the one you should be talkin' to. If you wanna chew someone's ass out just 'cause ya ain't getting' yer food, take it up with them," the register said as he somehow remained calm with Darreth's childishness, and then he pointed out the window towards one of the food trucks that was driving away…and that truck was Nya.

"WAIT! I NEED MY PUFFY POT-STICKERS!" Darreth shouted at the top of his lungs at the truck as he sprinted after it with his arms waving frantically in the air.

* * *

The sun wasn't even up yet over Chen's island, and neither of the ninja now Garmadon could sleep. Chen kept his promise for them to sleep in the chow house; luckily, he brought in many bunk-beds for all of the contestants so that they didn't have to sleep on the tables.

The first one to finally rise from their bed with no sleep was Jay, but he was soon joined by Kai, Lloyd and Kate.

"You guys couldn't sleep either?" Jay yawned.

"Hell no, not with these lumpy beds," Lloyd whispered in pain as he rubbed his back.

But suddenly the lights flipped on, making everyone cover their eyes, and they soon had to cover their ears when another gong was rung loud and rapidly.

"I would grant you all a good morning if it weren't for two things. One: I hate you and hope you all go to Hell. And two—it's the middle of the night," Clouse announced grimly.

But as the Elemental Masters woke with anger, some of Chen's minions walked in with…strings of roller-skates on their backs? And the first thing they did was walk up to the Elemental Masters, took of their shoes and slipped on and laced up a pair of roller-skates onto their feet without warning.

It didn't matter if you were standing; the men would just sweep you off your feet to put the skates on.

"Oh great. I just love another one of Chen's 'eccentric' battles," Lloyd said with sarcasm as he slowly rolled his way to a pillar to get his balance.

The worst one on skates was Kai as he was all over the place and falling onto his back faster than Octodad surrounded with banana peels. But Kate and Jay seemed to be like professionals.

"Who cares about the fight? I LOVE roller-skates!" Jay laughed as he was practically dancin' around like a ballerina.

"How are you two even this good on skates already?" Lloyd questioned as he watched his wife and blue-clad friend skate gracefully around the room.

"Hell if I know. It just comes naturally," Kate guessed.

"I got first place in the Mother-Son Skating Contest," Jay added as he was now grinding off the edge of the tables, "I regret saying that out loud."

"What a fucking weirdo," Paleman added under his breath.

"Don't be late to the royal arena!" Clouse suddenly shouted.

"But wait, how come we're ALL in skates if we've all already fought?" Skylar questioned.

"You could say each and every one of you has a part to—effect the outcome," Clouse replied darkly.

"Well, don't leave us hangin'! who's fightin'?" Turner asked with anticipation as he skated up to Clouse.

"The Master of Creation vs.—the Master of Form."

And with that, Clouse and the rest of Chen's cronies left the room. And the ones most affected by Clouse's announcement were the ninja and Garmadon.

"Who the hell is the 'Master of Form'?" Lloyd questioned.

"You don't know her? She can take the form of ANYONE; she'd be right under your nose, and you'd never know it," Kai replied, but his tone sounded darker than usual.

"Oh, I hate these things."

"KAI?!" Lloyd gasped as he found Kai behind him wobbling around on his skates…but he just saw Kai in front of him. And suddenly, this Kai fell down again.

But it was then that they heard the imposter Kai start chuckling evilly.

"Be careful out there, Green Ninja," the imposter said, but not in Kai's voice; it turned to more of a young feminine voice. And it was then that the Master of Form revealed herself.

The Master of Form was Chamille, a fit woman who loved purple; wearing purple clothes, and even her short, silky hair was dyed dark and light purple. Even her fricking EYES were purple.

* * *

Fumes that luckily weren't too hot continued to whoosh down in the dark, dirty factory.

Despite the rule that none of the food should be eating, one of the guards has been sneaking fortune cookies…but it wasn't long before he regretted eating so much when he had to go to the lavatory. But when Jacob heard the door that the guard was watching, he already knew it meant that that door was left unguarded, so this was his chance to escape.

Jacob started to crawl under some of the machines and moving belts, hoping to not be spotted, but he didn't go completely unnoticed when Cole saw him. But when he went to go join Jacob in his escape, Karloff grabbed his shoulder in a vice grip and turned him back towards the noodles.

"No, no, no. Make noodles, not trouble."

Meanwhile, Jacob continued sneaking around as he occasionally had to listen around for guards. And he soon made another smart move when taking an empty box and using it as cover while moving closer to the door.

The whole time, Karloff and Cole couldn't help but watch. And Jacob thought he was home-free when he took off the box and he sensed he was right by the door…but he assumed too quickly when he opened the door, and didn't notice at first that not only was the guard coming back, but so was Clouse.

And when Cole tried to warn Jacob, Karloff wasn't going to risk it as he grabbed Cole and covered his mouth.

When Jacob went to exit the door, he bumped chests with Clouse, and the said right-hand man of Chen's glared at the once Master of Sound. And when the guard came back in, he grabbed and restrained Jacob.

"Let this fool be an example to all of you!" Clouse announced, but then he turned to the guard and lowered his voice, "take him away, my 'pet' is very hungry."

But Clouse's voice wasn't low enough for Karloff and Cole.

"His 'pet'? You don't think he means-?"

"Ah, ah, ah! Karloff no want any part of trouble."

* * *

The remaining Elemental Masters skated down a dark, damp, stone hall that was dimly lit by torches, and soon a huge wooden ramp lowered itself down for them.

"I REALLY don't like the look of this," Lloyd whimpered.

"Don't worry. You've always got us," Kate reassured, but then Kai once again fell down, "well…most of us."

It was then that they reached the ramp and rolled up it, and out into a huge roller-skating ring.

"Welcome to my absolute favorite event" THUUUUNDEEER BLAAAADE!"

Chen's maniacal voice range through the ring as he suddenly came in faster than a bullet because he was also wearing skates.

"Oh cool, so it's a game!" Turner pointed out.

"No! I-it's not like that…this is MY game!" Chen growled as he rolled up to Turner and glared into his scared brown eyes, "some rules have changed in here! For example: there's TWO Jade Blades instead of one. There's one for Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, and one for Chamille!"

Chen then grabbed two Jade Blades and tossed them to Lloyd and Chamille, and then he grabbed two helmets and tossed them to the said Elemental Masters.

"Each lap you finish when crossing the finish line with your blade, you earn a point; whoever has the most points before fifteen minutes wins!" Chen announced while pointing up at a huge score board with Chamille and Lloyd's name on it.

"But hold on! What about the rest of us?" Kate questioned.

"Why, the rest of you have the most important part! You can either help—or hurt—whoever you want! So get your helmets and pick a side!"

And after Chen's reply, all of the other masters grabbed their helmets, put them on and chose Chamille to lean towards, but the ninja stayed with Lloyd.

"Don't worry, we're still a tea-YEET!" Kai tied to say…but he only fell…again.

"Yeah, but to be honest…we're in deep waters!" Jay whimpered as he and the other ninja stared fearfully as they were outnumbered by the other masters on Chamille's side.

As the Elemental Masters rolled up to the starting line, Chen and Clouse went to his throne in the center of the ring, and since Garmadon was not a contestant, Clouse had him wait by Chen's throne.

And the other masters took their place behind Chamille while the ninja stayed close behind Lloyd.

"Lloyd, Master of Creation vs. Chamille, Master of Form! The one with the most points scored by crossing the line with their Jade Blade wins! Thunder Bladers get ready…get set…"

"Make a Move" by Icon for Hire starts to play.

"GOOO!"

The race was on. The fifteen minute minute-set clock on the score board started to count down, and everyone was literally on a role. But the others had to wait for about another ten seconds before Chen pressed a button that sounded as horn, and THEN they were off to catch up.

"No matter what, we have to stay close to Lloyd!" Kate shouted back to Kai and Jay, but as Jay sped forward, Kai fell a little behind since skating wasn't his specialty, but soon Skylar came rolling back to him.

"Listen Kai, Lloyd's you're greatest competition! What the hell keeps holding you back from winning it all?!" Skylar warned Kai in a loud a bit of a hushed voice.

"That's just something I try not to think about."

"Well, you should try it!" Skylar said angrily as she skated farther ahead, but not before not Kai off his feet. Some of Chen's cronies only laughed at Kai as he tried to stand back up.

Meanwhile, Chamille and Lloyd had crossed the line for the first lap, and but still had their blades clasped tight in their fists. So both of them earned five points on the score board.

But as Lloyd continued to try and catch up with Chamille, all of the other Elemental Masters surrounded him and stayed on him like a fat kid on cake.

"He can't get through them!" Jay called with fear when Kai finally caught up with him and Kate, as the three of them could not reach Lloyd.

"But how?!" Kai questioned.

"I've got an idea! Jay give me your hand, and when you get close, use your powers!" Kate said firmly, and Jay knew what she had in mind. So Jay let Kate take his hand, and no sooner had she had Jay in her grasp had she stopped skating forward but now started spinning around and around and around. But she was only building energy because when she let go, Jay skated faster then before towards to other Elemental Masters.

"Lloyd, heads up!" Jay called, and Lloyd looked behind him, and ducked in time for Jay's strands of lightning that swept over him and shocked all of the masters' necks; temporarily stunning them as they all fell, letting Lloyd finally skate farther ahead.

* * *

Out on the coasts of Ninjago were the food trucks out on some docks that were being loaded onto a large ferry boat…and Nya was still following them unnoticed as the last truck.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm…nothing to see here," Nya sang softly to try and comfort herself, "nothing but a high-tech vehicle disguised as yours."

TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP.

The sudden hard tapping on the passenger window made Nya shriek, only for it to be Darreth.

"Hey! Tell Chen to NEVER stop makin' the puffy pot-stickers!" Darreth pleaded, not knowing it was Nya since the window was tinted.

But then Nya noticed a guard walking down the docks with a flashlight to look for stow-aways, so she rolled down the window for Darreth to see her.

"Nya?! When did you start workin' for Chen?!"

"Will you shut the hell up?!"

"Hey Nya, why is your truck totally tripping me out?" Darreth asked in a calmer voice as he touched one of the truck's exhaust pipes, which that temporarily revealed that portion of the its true identity. And since Nya wasn't going to risk getting caught because of some jackass, she grabbed the collar of Darreth's brown ninja gi and yanked him into the passenger seat through the window, while then frantically rolling the window back up when the guard was getting closer.

"Ooh, for out. But wait! Where's the food?"

"It's NOT a food truck! It's my only chance at finding the ninja!" Nya hissed while she got up in Darreth's face.

"The ninja? Missing? Please, they're probably just off doing ninja-things," Darreth scoffed, only to earn an angry and disappointed look from Nya.

"Uh, no! That's not it…and you're not coming with me!"

"I don't think you've got a choice anymore," Darreth said as he pointed forward to show Nya that they were the last truck to load onto the boat, and the guard was still coming.

"Oh…I'm gonna regret this," Nya sighed as she drove forward slowly.

* * *

The skating challenge still went on, and it wasn't going to be over until seven more minutes. At least Lloyd was still close to Chamille, and the two were now tied with eighty points.

"Oh, the Thunder Blade tournament NEVER fails to deliver! Of course, that's because I hold the highest record of two hundred points" Chen laughed maniacally while clapping his hands like a child.

"That may be the only true thing I've ever heard you say," Garmadon added grimly.

"Like you're one to talk. There was a time when you had your fair share of lies, Garmadon—you're lies even worked on Misako," Clouse whispered darkly into Garmadon's ear.

"Button, buttons, how I love you! Buttons, buttons, let's see what you can do!" Chen sang as he looked at his panel of buttons, and pressed a random one.

That random button activated a ramp right in front of Lloyd, as he then flew into the air. And he was luckily able to roll when he hit the ground and kept skating. But when Kai came up to the ramp, he(hope you guessed it)fell flat on his back after flying a few feet into the air.

After Lloyd caught up to Jay in the front, Jay looked back and stretched his hand out to him.

"Grab my hand and I'll throw you!"

And Lloyd wasted no time in letting Jay grab his wrist tightly, and he was soon thrown a couple yards forward…but it was mistake when it turned out to Chamille disguised ad Lloyd as she laughed evilly while continuing to skate faster. And Chamille soon caught up to Shadow, who was on her side.

"It seems that the little Green Ninja's back is hurting today, Shadow—end his misery!" Chamille commanded Shadow, and the raven-haired man skated back towards Lloyd, who was holding his back in pain with his free hand.

As Jay skated with the real Lloyd to protect him, he looked up in fear when he heard Chamille's plan…but then Shadow suddenly disappeared into thin air.

"AAAHH! WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!" Jay cried as he frantically looked everywhere for Shadow. And while Lloyd and Jay kept skating, they didn't see Shadow suddenly reappear behind them, and he jumped up and bashed Lloyd directly in his back with his skates, causing Lloyd to fall over. Though has back did not break, he still dropped the Jade Blade as it slide a few good feet along the track, and so the other masters started kicking it around until Paleman finally swooped it up from the ground and laughed evilly.

"Hey! Shadow!"

Shadow had to look back when he heard his name, but he regretted it when he saw Kate coming right for him with rage in her eyes. And not only that, but she had created fire in both her fists as she used the fire power as boosters to push her faster.

"Oh shit…" was all Shadow could say before Kate threw a fire ball at him, and as soon as he caught on fire, he just forgot about the challenge sand stopped, dropped and rolled.

But Kate wasn't done there; she soon then used more fire to go faster again and she skated through the crowd of Elemental Masters with such flawless ability until she caught up to Paleman.

"Jay, Kai, don't leave Lloyd's side-!" Kate tried to say firmly, but Kai only…fell again, "…ok, Jay, don't leave Lloyd's side, and leave the rest for me!"

And with that, Jay did as he was told while Kate continued to speed towards Paleman. And when she finally caught up, she used the unnatural strength of Cole's earth powers that she absorbed from him, and then she grabbed Paleman's neck and effortlessly tossed him back, but not before she yanked Lloyd's Jade Blade from his hand and skated back to give the blade back to her husband.

"Damn!"

"This is no time for judgment, Lloyd! JUST KEEP SKATING!" Kate replied with a loud growl, and Lloyd did as he was told.

But Toxikita wasn't going to have it. Toxikita was a woman who loved all things green and poisonous; she had bright green eyes, she wore punk-rock fashion that consisted of torn up black jeans and a ripped, bright green tank top with a toxic symbol, and even her hair that was in a big, spiky pony-tail was dyed bright green. And she was the Master of Poison.

So Tox used her venomous powers to produce a green cloud of toxic fumes meant for Jay, Lloyd and Kai to breath in. But Jay was able to push Lloyd and himself out of the way and dodge the cloud in time…but due to his poor skating skills, Kai rolled right into the cloud and ended up coming out the other end with his hands over his mouth, a cringed up face and he was viciously coughing.

But luckily for Jay's little push, it wasn't long before Lloyd was once again able to catch up with Chamille and also crossed the finish line, earning another five points…but Chamille was ahead of him by tine points with a total of ninety-five points.

"CONDRAI-CRUSHER DRIVERS, GET YOUR SORRY ASSES OUT HERE!"

Chen was getting angry with all the underestimated help Lloyd was getting, so he pressed a button that opened a door for an underground garage and one of Chen's cronies burst out on a Condrai-Crusher. And now the skaters had to watch out for the on-coming vehicle.

And since the Condrai-Crusher was only after Lloyd and the ninja, Chamille used the chance to get a lift when the vehicle caught up to her and Lloyd as she jumped onto the back of the vehicle.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Lloyd called angrily after Chamille, as some of the other remaining masters on her side grabbed each other's hands and the back of the Condrai-Crusher as they rolled along in a chain.

"Life's not fair, Sweetie!" Chamille called back with a grin.

The remaining Elemental Masters surrounded Lloyd, Kate and Jay to stop them. And Neuro and Turner were handling Jay.

"Neuro?! What the hell?! You're on OUR side!" Jay said while freaking out that Neuro was helping the enemy.

"Shut up, Jackass!" Neuro shouted with a lie, but apparently Turner believed him, especially when Neuro looked at him with an evil grin, "Turner, you take this one."

"On it! Watch this!" Turner said with a grin, as Neuro knew he should let go of Jay, and he was right to when Turner used his super-sonic speed to push Jay along the ring…but he wasn't going to get too far.

"HEY!" Kate called angrily as she suddenly used Cole's super strength again to break free of the other masters, and then she used Turner's speed that she secretly absorbed from him earlier to go after him.

And it wasn't long before Kate caught up to the Master of Speed as she then grabbed the back of Turner's shirt, and she stopped while causing sparks to fly from her skates, and she took Turner with her…but that caused Turner to accidentally lose his grip on Jay, and so when he let Jay go, Jay only continued to role uncontrollably forward, and he crashed into Lloyd, which was Turner's plan in the first place.

So after Lloyd and Jay became a groaning-in-pain pile, the others went to go join Chamille. But that's when Kate came rolling in while holding Turner in a neck-lock, and no matter how much Turner struggled to break free of Kate's vice grip, she wouldn't budge.

"Got any other plans, Babe?" Lloyd groaned in pain after Jay got up and helped him back onto his feet, "huh…at least my back doesn't hurt anymore."

"Hmm…I got it! Give me the blade!" Kate said as she perked up with a brilliant idea, but Lloyd wasn't at all reluctant to hand the blade to Kate, despite he had now idea what she had in mind.

But as soon as Kate had the blade in her hands, she let go of a suffocating Turner, who collapsed after he was free, and then Kate used Turner's speed to make her way around the ring in just seconds.

Each time Kate made a lap around, she got Lloyd five more points each time since it was still Lloyd's blade. And it wasn't long before Lloyd was five points ahead of Chamille.

"Oh, that's IT!" Chamille snapped as she launched herself from the Condrai-Crusher and sped off towards Kate since she had stopped using speed since Lloyd was ahead now.

But Kate should've kept going faster when Chamille caught up with Kate and swiped her legs to knock Kate off her feet. And when Kate was one the ground, she didn't have the time to retaliate when Chamille quickly jumped up into the air and landed feet-first onto the hand that Kate was holding the Jade blade with, and her hand and wrist broke; she could hear her bones cracking too.

Kate's shrill cry of pain stung Lloyd's ears like bees when he now knew that his wife was injured. But when Lloyd looked ahead, he saw Chamille grab his Jade Blade and she continued on with it.

"Chamille now earns double points!" Chen announced with a grin, and just as Chamille completed another laugh, with put her ahead of Lloyd again with Lloyd at one-hundred points and Chamille at one-hundred and ten.

"WHAT?! Ok, that's it! I can't skate, but I can still use my powers!" Kai yelled angrily, and with that, he created strands of raging fire from his hands and pointed them behind him so that they rocketed him faster and easier across the ring.

Kai was aiming for Chamille and the crusher, so when he reached her, not only did her grab her and throw her back a few yards, but her also used his fire to explode the gas tank; thus also exploding the whole vehicle to be obliterated, and even that portion of the ring was destroyed as there was now huge hole in it.

But the hole and the fire didn't stop the skaters as they were able to jump over the hole or use their powers to help them. And as Jay caught up and jumped passed the hole, he dropped the blade that Chamille dropped and he let himself gain five more points for Lloyd.

"Nice one, Hot-Head!" Jay called back to Kai.

But Chamille only had one thing on her mind, and that was to get Jay and retrieve Lloyd's Jade Blade back. So she dropped everything and skated quickly up to Jay; the said Master of Lightning was grinning back at her while skating backwards.

"Ha! Ha! You want it, but I got it!" Jay taunted as Chamille tried to get closer, but since Jay was backwards, he could see some of the other Elemental Masters also trying to catch up, so before hey jumped to try and dog-pile Jay, he jerked one way so that Chamille would follow him and she got attacked instead.

And coming up from behind the pile was Lloyd with the other blade in his hand, and he jumped and used a front flip to get over the pile of masters.

Meanwhile, Kai was still catching his breath at the scene of explosion, so Skylar came skating up to him in anger.

"What are you doing?! We need Lloyd out!"

"WE need to stick together! We're ninja!"

"Oh, right, and the rest of us aren't," Skylar scoffed with disgust, but as the others started to make their round, she skated off with them. But then Jay skated in with Chamille's Jade Blade.

"Lloyd's cutting it close; time is still against us!" Jay pointed out.

"Yeah? Well, so is everyone else! The more we try to help Lloyd, the more we all get ganged up on!"

"What are you saying, Kai?!"

"I'm saying we should warn them—about Chen! If they knew what this tournament is really about, they might as well help us!"

"I don't know. Lloyd's still got a lot of ground to make up, and time's almost up!" Jay said with worry as he and Kai looked up at the clock on the score board, and there was only two minutes left.

But suddenly Chamille managed to catch up with Jay and took him by surprise by knocking her Jade Blade right out of his hand and swooping it up from the ground and skated on with it.

Meanwhile, Kai skated back to get to Skylar, and he grabbed her shoulders in a vice grip. But as she struggled, she wasn't able to break free of Kai's grip.

"Alright, fine! You wanna take me down too?!" Skylar growled.

"No! You were right, we're all competition, but Chen is the enemy here! All he really wants to do is cheat to take everyone's powers for a spell!" Kai explained as he pointed at Chen in his throne as he pushed another button that activated another ramp for Chamille and Lloyd. But due to his legit ninja skills, Lloyd landed on his feet and continued on while Chamille did not.

"A spell? And what the hell would Chen do with a spell?" Paleman asked with suspicion as he caught up with Kai and Skylar.

"I don't know, but we can't risk finding out!" Kai replied with fear.

"It's not about anyone winning or taking all the glory! It's about stopping Chen to save EVERYONE!" Jay tried to explain to Turner.

"And why are you telling me this now?!" Turner growled.

"Because it's never too late to do the right thing!" Kate said as Lloyd appeared to have gone and helped her back up, and she also created a block of ice and held it on her broken left hand and wrist.

But when they weren't looking, Shadow and Neuro were sneaking up behind them to take them…but Neuro was secretly on the ninja's side again as he knocked Shadow back.

"They're telling the truth!" Neuro pointed out.

"Why are you NOW helping us?!" Jay snapped.

"Because I like to be on the winning team," Neuro replied flatly.

"Fifty eight seconds on the clock!" Turner suddenly pointed out, but then he had an idea, "grab my hand and don't let go!"

Lloyd immediately knew what Turner had in mind, so he let the Master of Speed take hold of his hand, and Turner used his super-speed to speed around the ring like a bullet while taking Lloyd with him.

"NO! THIS IS TERRIBLE!" Chen cried.

"I know, Master. The ninja might win!" Clouse added angrily.

"Not just that…they might beat my high score!" Chen continued to whine, only making Clouse roll his eyes, but Garmadon grinned.

But Chen was right; Lloyd was at a total of one hundred and fifty points while Chamille was at a total of one hundred and twenty five.

So Chen started to press more and more buttons; activating ramps to pop up from the floor, slug-buddies to drop from the ceiling, spiked walls to pop out from the side, and holes to open up in the floor. But no matter what Chen threw at them, Turner was determined to get Lloyd through unscathed.

But even if Chen's stuff couldn't touch Turner, Chamille was an exception when she had the idea to stop and wait for Turner and Lloyd to come to her. When they did come back around, Chamille was able to knock the life out of Turner, and then she dealt with Lloyd when she grabbed his upper-wrists and it sent them in a spin.

"We don't have to fight each other, Chamille! We can work together!" Lloyd tried to reason with her, but he could still se the anger and betrayal in Chamille's dark purple eyes.

"That'll be the death of you," Chamille whispered with a smile.

Now the challenge really was between the two as there were fifteen seconds left on the clock, and Lloyd and Chamille were bumping around to slow each other down.

The other Elemental Masters watched in agonizing tension as they skated many yards behind the two; Clouse and Garmadon felt the tension too, but Chen was laughing maniacally he had so much confidence that Lloyd would lose.

…10…9…8…

They were so close to the finish line that Chamille decided she didn't want to risk it, so she knocked Lloyd off his feet and tried to jump over him, only for Lloyd to use his Jade Blade to trip her.

…7…6…5…4…

The two retaliated and continued to move forward as the finish line was now only a few feet away…but Chamille was slightly closer.

…3…2…1...0

It was too late. An air-horn went off in the ring as Chamille had been the first to cross the line.

Lloyd and Chamille skidded to a halt while catching their breath.

Everything was quiet.

But that was when Lloyd raised his Jade Blade into the air victoriously, for when he tripped Chamille, she dropped hers and didn't pick it back up. Lloyd was the winner.

"WHOOO! LLOYD WON!" Jay cheered as he and the others skated up to him and surrounded him with even more cheers.

"Look Chen—record broken," Garmadon said with a grin while pointing up at the score board. Lloyd had two hundred and five points, and Chamille had one hundred and ninety.

"NO…NO! L-Lloyd can't win!" Chen stammered.

"Uh, yeah he can! He won fare and square, Fuck-nut!" Turner called angrily, which made Chen plop back into his throne with aggravation.

"Yeah? Well, my tournament, my rules."

"And just what rules are those, 'Father'?" Kate mocked, "if Lloyd's out, then so am I!"

"Me too!" Paleman called angrily.

"And so am I!" Kai added.

"Me three!" Jay also added while pointing his finger high up into the air like a child.

"What kind of tournament would it be—without any contestants?" Skylar pointed out, only making Chen growl angrily. So he looked to Clouse for advice, but he only nodded calmly.

"Di-you—FINE! Chamille's out!" Chen stammered when pressing another button for Chamille to fall down another trap-door.

But when the others on the ninja's side started to cheer, Skylar pulled Kai secretly aside.

"If what you're saying about Chen is true, then know you're playing an even more dangerous game now. You know will still do anything in his power to take you out," Skylar pointed out in a hushed voice.

"Hey, the more allies we gain, the more hope that comes with it," Kai softly protested.

* * *

A guard was taking some of the workers from Chen's food factory while they were all chained together with heavy shackles. And that included Cole, as the said used-to-be Master of Earth was sadly sulking his head, hoping his friends were still doing ok…but then he heard something that made his head perk up as he walked by a closed cell door.

"I-I'm not so sure, P.I.X.A.L….these chains seem very unbreakable…"

Cole knew he heard that voice, so he ignored the guard and the chains around his wrists and went up to the cell door to peek through the tiny opening.

"Zane?" Cole questioned aloud in a hushed tone.

But when Cole stopped, Karloff was getting worried.

"What you doing? No make trouble!" Karloff whispered harshly.

And when Cole stopped, Karloff stopped; when Karloff stopped, the rest of the prisoners stopped, making the guard aware as he glared back.

"What the hell is the hold up?!" the guard called back angrily.

"Just a moment! Karloff tie shoe!" Karloff lied while behind down to pretend to tie his shoe; all to stall for Cole.

The said ninja continued to look through the tiny opening…and he couldn't believe it when he was greeted with the upgraded, titanium Zane as the Nindroid stood up slowly.

"Holy Hell…you're alive?!" Cole said with amazement, "…a-and silver?"

"No. Titanium."

"Oh, that doesn't matter! You're brand new and everything; you look awesome!" Cole laughed.

"Wait a minute…you don't have shoes," the guard said aloud as he remembered that the prison clothes were like footed-pajamas.

"Don't worry, Bud. I'll get you out—I'll get is BOTH out. I promise," Cole said firmly as the guard came stomping to the back of the line, but not before Cole and Zane went back to their places and didn't get caught.

So the guard sneered and went back to the front and continued to lead the line.

"Karloff, I'm makin' more than just noodles from now on—I'm also makin' trouble," Cole whispered to Karloff with a grin, "Chen may think that he can split us apart, but he has no idea how strong we are or what we're like together."

* * *

As dawn crept over the ocean, the ferry that carried the food truck was only about a mile away from the coast of Chen's island, and a couple of stow-aways on that ferry was Nya and Darreth, hiding in the food truck-disguised DV-Express.

* * *

 **Kairocksrainbow, I hope you're not mad at me for making Star disappear. She's not dead or hurt, and she's not going to be.**

 **Anyway, I wanna ask you authors out there somthin': would you be able to remember each and everyone of the Elemental Masters too?**

 **Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	6. Chapter 6 - A Message in the Fortune

**Ok, so I'm dividing this chapter into two too. I know, there's too many "to's".**

* * *

Chapter 6 – A Message in the Fortune

The red eyes of the giant portrait of Master Chen in his dark purple robes and blood red throne glared down with an evil smile at the poor Elemental Masters whose powers were stolen and were all now working in the miserably boring food factory…but despite the misery that was air-born among the masters, Cole was whistling happily while monitoring fortune cookies go by on a conveyer belt with Karloff and Jacob.

"What's got YOU so happy, Dora?"

"If you must know, Karloff, I found a dead friend—a-and he's alive! Just gotta get myself outta here, get Zane out, and that's all there is to it," Cole replied with a smile while turning a cookie to face like the others.

"It's not that easy. Beyond that little door out of factory is snake-guarded labyrinth."

"Don't be such a Negative Nancy, Karloff," Cole protested.

"I'm no negative, I'm realistic."

"Really? Well, Mr. Common Sense, tell us how to get out."

"Shut up, Blind Mouse."

"Guys, fighting won't get us freedom! All we have to do is somehow make contact with Zane; when we do, he'll be able to figure out ANYTHING," Cole cut in Karloff and Jacob's bickering.

"Karloff wish HE had friend like that."

"First thing's first: I gotta let the gang know I found our metal amigo," Cole said in a hushed voice while grabbing out a strip of paper and snatched a fortune cookie off of the belt; afterwards, shoving the paper with writing on it carefully into the cookie.

"A message? In cookie? That's absurd!" Karloff said with surprise as Cole placed the special cookie onto the platter of other fortune cookies that Karloff was about to deliver.

"I said the same thing—at least, with better grammer," Cole said while trying not offend Karloff, and the giant man soon walked off with phase one of Cole's plan right on the platter he was carrying.

"Special! For banquet!" Karloff called to the closest guard, thus handing it off to him as the guard walked up to the door…only for the next guard to lick his lips and reach for none other than Cole's fortune cookie, making Cole and Karloff worry.

Luckily, the guard carrying the platter followed the rules that none of the merchandise should be eaten, so he slapped the guard's hand away and walked out. And it was then that Cole and Karloff noticed the ring of keys clasped to the door guard's hip.

"Karloff, I think our own fortune just cracked open," Cole said with hope.

* * *

A trio of Chen's Kabuki giggled while walking passed a pair of cheeky guards that were guarding the entrance to one of Chen's temples…but high up on a hill, well hidden with the DV-Expresses' cloaking mechanics, Nya and Darreth observed quietly…at least, Nya was quiet.

"I say now's our chance; let's move, Darreth," Nya whispered to the brown clad man while she reached for her door handle, only for Darreth to suddenly grab her wrist.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute there, Missy!"

"Darreth, what the hell are you doing?" Nya whispered with surprise as Darreth forcefully dragged the raven-head into the back of the vehicle.

When the two finally reached the back, Darreth let go of Nya while grabbing a large, black, hand-held case. he then pressed a little button on the side, and five panels of all kinds of rows of different make-up flung out.

"Ok, make-up is a red flag for me," Nya whimpered.

"Oh, c'mon ol' girl, I'm a master of make-up…a-and besides, it's for men!"

Darreth then began to 'work his magic' with Nya as he brushed his make-up brush all over Nya's face and even her hands.

And not even ten seconds later, Nya managed to wave the powder out of the air to see…and she saw that she was not only wearing the white and colorful make-up of a Kabuki, but she was also somehow dressed like one.

"How did you change my clothes without me knowing?!"

"Ah-ah-ah! A true ninja NEVER reveals his secrets," Darreth replied slyly while grabbing out a comb and combed his big, fluffy brown hair; making Nya roll her eyes.

* * *

Speaking of Chen's Kabuki, a large group of them were carrying platters of exotic foods around a grand table that was placed elegantly in the middle of Chen's throne room.

One Kabuki even carried a plate of gooey egg things that were slathered in honey to Lloyd.

"Won't you try the horned wasp eggs, 'Son-In-Law'? They're—to die for," Chen called to Lloyd in a playfully dark tone as Lloyd poked the 'horned wasp eggs' with questioning.

"Uh…yeah, I'll pass on that."

"Lighten up, will you? It's not a trick, it's a celebration of the lot of you who remained in my tournament!" Chen said happily while another Kabuki placed a huge bowl in front of the ninja; it was full of a brown, gelatinous soup that had the fresh dead bodies of bright green worms hanging out of the side.

"Relax, Lloyd. You're not the one with the broken hand and having to take aspirin, after all," Kate sighed as she once again lifted her pale left hand to show that it was still safely clasped in a dark green cast.

"She's right, Lloyd. Now that most of the other masters trust us about Chen's evil plans, our alliance is better and safer than before," Kai reassured from the other side of Garmadon.

And speaking of the other Elemental Masters, the rest of them were having their own private conversation on the other end of the long table.

"I swear, Shadow's up ta somethin'," Turner whispered to Skylar, as the said Master of Shadows was sitting on his other side.

"If you plan on stopping Chen, you'll need EVERYONE in on this with you. Each time that one master loses, then each time Chen will only grow more powerful; he'll grow TOO powerful if we don't act soon," Garmadon explained firmly to the ninja.

But as Lloyd cautiously watched Shadow, little did he or the others know that the guard carrying Cole's cookie with his message on the platter was being handed to a Kabuki, who was now walking around with the cookies.

But that was also when Kate sensed something with her 'gift'.

"Guys…it's Cole."

"Cole? What do you mean it's Cole? He's not here," Jay pointed out.

"I know, but he's trying to make contact with us. Keep your eyes peeled," Kate protested quietly.

"Ooh, ooh, bring the fortune cookies to me!" Chen called to the fortune cookie-carrying Kabuki, and she didn't disobey Chen.

"Those are for you 'guests', Master."

"Oh, hush, Clousy! I'm not going to eat them, I'm going to read the messages inside; they're the best part!" Chen giggled as he grabbed Cole's cookie and was about to slip Cole's message out, only for Clouse to luckily yank it from his master's clutches in time.

"Need I remind you that the masters LOVE whispers? And it's not for your food. I hear tell about an—alliance. The ninja are going to end up being a blockade to our plan, Master."

"Even the spell?"

"I highly doubt they know about that too, but let's not take any risks."

With that, Clouse handed the cookie back to his master in hopes that he would put it back on the platter for his guests; in which he reluctantly did. So the Kabuki continued around the table with the fortune cookies.

"Now, I have been hearing rumors of me stealing the losers' powers—I am!"

Chen's sudden announcement didn't make the ninja jump in their seats with surprise like the other Elemental Masters.

"But it's all for THIS STAFF…" Chen continued as he clapped his hands…only for his Kabuki to do the wrong command and flitter their fans in front of him; angering the lord of the island.

"No, no, no! Not people staff! Stick staff!" Chen growled angrily as the woman put their fans away and the smarter one went and grabbed Chen's staff while carefully handing it to him.

"In the crest of this staff are all of the past Elemental Masters' powers—and they soon might be yours if you are not careful! The last one that survives my tournament will not only get to keep their powers, but they will also be dubbed the greatest warrior in Ninjago history!"

Usually, everyone but the ninja would have cheered and laughed with Chen…but they weren't laughing as much now as Chen was squirming happily in his throne like the mental child he is.

"You. Fucking. Liar."

Everyone heads turned in Lloyd's direction, but none were as surprised or curious as Chen.

"We know about the spell!"

"Spell? What spell?" Clouse lied while shaking his head in denial.

"Don't play koi! Neuro read Clouse's mind; t-tell them what you saw, Neuro!" Lloyd said firmly while turning towards Neuro, and it only got worse for the poor Master of the Mind as everyone looked at him in wonder…especially Clouse.

"I…I…I d-don't remember. I-I'm more interested in that beautiful staff," Neuro said while keeping his cool.

"And why should we just suddenly believe you? How do we know your not just tryin' to get the staff all to your self, Buster?!" Turner questioned angrily as he and Skylar took a fortune cookie from a Kabuki, just like everyone else had been doing.

But the main thing was that now it was back to square one with everyone negatively whispering about the ninja. And this made Clouse and Chen grin.

"Good. Their alliance is crumbling again," Clouse said quietly.

"We've been put in hot water again, guys," Kate pointed out with fear.

"Why would they believe him over us again?" Lloyd questioned.

"We need proof if we're gonna be convincing anyone," Jay started as a Kabuki started flittering her fan in Jay's face…for some reason, "we need to…find that…spell-WILL YOU GET THAT THING OUTTA MY FACE?!"

But Jay had no idea who he was actually glaring at.

"It's me: Nya," Nya the Kabuki whispered.

"Nya?" everyone said in unison while jerking back in their seats, only to lean back forward again to do a double-take.

"What are you doing here…and dressed as one of Chen's gestures?" Lloyd questioned with concern.

"I'm completely out of my element, I know. But I didn't do this; Darreth's here too," Nya said as she brought out her ruby-crested, golden band bracelet/walkie-talkie.

"Sup?" Darreth asked over the radio.

"And don't worry, we've been protected in my mobile base," Nya added.

"So wait, have you seen any sign of Star? She disappeared not too long ago without warning," Kai added with concern.

"I'm sorry, but no I haven't seen her…or anyone else out in that bloody jungle, for that matter," Nya sadly replied.

"Nya, with your stealth, do you think you can uncover Chen and Clouse's spell?" Lloyd cut in, "the only thing we're aware of is that it's on page one-forty-nine, and that it's most likely in Clouse's room."

"I'm sure I could do something…but you've got bigger problems," Nya pointed out with worry.

"How so?" Jay questioned.

"How do you think they found out that you knew so much? Someone's not to be trusted in your little group," Nya whispered, but then she noticed how Clouse was suspiciously watching her, so she danced away from the ninja and continued to innocently flitter her paper fan.

But that was when Skylar came walking up to the ninja and got Kai's attention by placing a hand on the Fire Master's shoulder.

"Do you know that servant girl?"

"U-uh…nope, not at all, 'Princess Clara'," Kai sarcastically joked.

"Ha-ha. Very funny, 'Foxxy'. My fortune said, in terrible hand-writing, that friends Cole and Zane will be breaking out…ya know, you're lucky this note didn't end up in the wrong hands," Skylar explained in a hushed voice as she handed the note to Kai and walked back to her seat…but the one that was focused on the red-head the most was Kate, as something just rubbed her the wrong way.

"Kate? Kate, are you ok?" Lloyd asked while nudging his wife to shake her from her thoughts.

"Y-yeah…yeah, I'm alright."

"It's Zane! Cole found him! Oh, thank you so much, Skylar!" Kai called happily to Skylar as she sat down and smiled back at the fiery brunette.

"Remember guys, Nya said there's someone we shouldn't be trusting. Who do you think it is?" Jay whispered.

"I have my suspicions," Lloyd replied while glaring back at Shadow.

* * *

It was a lovely mid-day in the humid jungle on Chen's island, but far off to the east of Chen's temples, Darreth remained hidden in a secret cave behind a waterfall while dancing around in the DV-Express with loud rock music on the radio.

But suddenly the communication system in the front started to go all static.

"Darreth…Darreth. Are you there?"

Darreth stopped dancing and darted to turn the music down when he heard Nya's hushed tone on the radio.

"Right here. Talk ta me, Babe."

"Bloody No-. Don't call me that! Listen, I need you to contact Sensei Wu and tell him our objectives are set. As I find the spell to prove that Chen and his cronies are up to no good, the ninja are searing around for the culprit spy in their alliance."

"Got it, Samurai-X. Brown Ninja Out!"

With that, Darreth hung up and then started to dial and call Wu.

"Breaker, breaker. Come in old man. 'The falcon has landed'."

* * *

Cole had been secretly waiting for the loud ding in the factory that signaled that half of the masters' shift was over, and that included Cole.

"Time to go, Karloff," Cole said confidently.

"But shift not over until five more hours," Karloff protested with fear.

"Maybe for you, big guy. But not for me," Cole protested as he then glared over at the noodle chopping station, "oh, this has been on my bucket lit for years!"

Cole then pounced over the fortune cookie conveyer belt and sprinted over to the noodle station; angry guards now trying to surround. And Cole's bucket list item was the jump up onto the moving conveyer belt and constantly eat the noodles as they moved toward him and as he ran on the belt.

When Cole had his fill of flavorless noodles, he jumped down to deal with the guards, and though they thought they had Cole cornered, they were dead wrong.

Cole pulled a huge cart from behind him and shoved it to successfully run over about a quarter of the guards. And every other food station he came upon, he ate the food he got a hold of and used the supplies to hit the guards.

It went from heavy boxes of sweet buns being lunged through the air, to kicking scalding hot egg rolls off of their conveyer belt into the guards' faces, and finally to banging each on-coming guard in the face with a thick metal sheet. And no matter how many times the guards tried to hit Cole with a spear piercing the air, Cole always dodged them.

And soon the said once Master of Earth grabbed another thick vine of noodles and used it as a rope to shoot and tie it around a high-up support beam as he pulled himself up to safety.

"GO COOOLE!" Karloff couldn't help but cheer, as did the rest of the powerless Elemental Masters…but it was not to last.

Cole's noodle rope wasn't such a good idea as the noodles couldn't support a full-grown man and snapped as Cole was climbing.

This all amounted up to Cole getting tossed back into his cell. But he waited with a smile when he heard the guards' footsteps grow softer, and when he knew they were gone, Cole chuckled.

"Oh, you are all such dumbasses," Cole laughed as he grabbed out the guard's ring of keys he managed to steal.

* * *

Zane didn't know why, but he was back in the ice cave with the familiar, transparent dragon. But lucky for the titanium robot, the beast was asleep…but he was also sleeping almost completely in Zane's, which is going to make it difficult to sneak out with out awaking it.

But first Zane had to focus on breaking out of the shackles he was chained in, though it wasn't long before he finally broke the last shackled on his right wrist, and he now had to worry about the dragon as its snore were like growls.

Zane looked up and saw the sparkling snowflakes falling gently through the hole that he caused and fell through the first time he was here, so he then started to tip-toe his way passed the dragon and began to carefully climb his way out.

But the dragon sensed something was wrong, so it snapped its glowing white yes open, thus startling Zane with a loud growl and even caused him to tumble back to and back within reach of the dragon's massive jaws.

And just when it seemed things couldn't get worse, a pair of icy limbs burst out from the ice wall behind him and grabbed him while starting to violently shake him.

" _ZAAAANE!"_

* * *

The shaking ice limbs and the dragon was all just the continuation of Zane's dream, as the one actually shaking him was Cole as the orange-clad man was leaning forward with a vice grip on his shoulders and their faces just inches apart, and Zane realized he was still in his prison cell. And Cole's face lit up when he saw Zane finally open his eyes.

"Oh, thank goodness. Don't worry, buddy; I'm gettin' us out of here," Cole said happily but was careful to be quiet as he also presented the stolen ring of keys and started to work on the rusted key-holes of Zane's almost unbreakable shackles.

"Cole. You have returned?" Zane said while starting to smile as Cole finally unlocked the locks and helped Zane to his feet.

"Of course I did, ya tin-can. I don't break all of my promises…now c'mere!" Cole replied happily as he suddenly grabbed Zane in a big hug, only to confuse the robot, "feel the brotherly love?"

"Uh…no. but the longer we wait here, the less time we have to escape."

So with that, the two ninja made their way out of the cell.

"Ya know, you were always the mart one of the team," Cole pointed out as he playfully slapped the back of Zane's head, but then Cole reached the door and looked both ways to make sure there were no guards or snakes in the halls, "let's go!"

But at the same time, the guard that originally had the keys jut now noticed that the keys he was supposed to by keeping watch over were no longer clipped to his waist, so he went into a panic and pressed a large red button on the wall that activated a loud siren throughout the factory and the rest of the underground caverns.

* * *

Nya had managed to sneak passed as a part of Chen's staff while making it up to the private parts of Chen's temple and made it into Clouse's private library. So she slowly pushed one of the heavy wooden doors open and tip-toed in while nervously glancing around.

"There's a million thick and dusty books in here; how am I supposed to know what one has the spell?" Nya quietly monologued.

It was hard to see since the whole room was dark, except for one spot which was a reading table with a single lit candle…and a thick, old book. So Nya assumed it might be the one and instantly started flipping through the pages in search of page one-forty-nine.

"Here it is!" Nya happily whispered as she found it, but her smile quickly turned to a shocked frown as she reluctantly found out more when she was dragging her finger along the ancient text, "by all the serpents of the Black Pit…this is not good."

But there was trouble when Clouse was going to pay a visit to his library; luckily, a guard came sprinting up to Clouse and stopped him before he could enter.

"There's been a breach in the underground; the Master of Earth has escaped!" the guard huffed while he was breathless from running all the way up to find Clouse.

"Release my pet; she'll 'take care' of him," Clouse ordered the guard, in which he ran off, and then Chen's right hand man remembered his first objective.

Meanwhile, Nya was alerted of Clouse being right outside the doors. So she quickly ripped the page with the spell and ran to hide within the many dark book shelves as Clouse then suddenly entered.

Clouse had no idea he wasn't alone as he walked up to the table with a single lit candle…but he noticed that his book was open when he remembered leaving it closed. But that wasn't the only thing he notice that was off; when he closed his book, there was white Kabuki make-up in the shape of a hand smudged on the front cover.

Clouse hummed to himself as he picked up his special book and carried it off with him out of the library; relieving Nya.

* * *

 **The only thing I really have to say is THANK YOU GUYS! Thanks to you readers, Legends of Ninjago: Rise of Evil now has more views than there are stories in the Ninjago fanfiction archive! And the numbers are still slowly growing! So I have nothing to just say but thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!**

 **Actually, there's one more thing. I'd like to see who can be the first to find the reference in this chapter(Hint: Pay attention to the dialogue between Kai and Skylar).**

 **Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


	7. Chapter 7 - My Sister is the Spy

**Sorry for not updating for so long, guys...and I don't think I have anything to say right now.**

* * *

Chapter 7 – My Sister is the Spy

It's hard to tell what time of day it is when you're deep underground, especially when you have to worry about the dangers within the twisting maze of the cavern that Cole and Zane were trying to navigate, only to be failing epically.

"Cole, we're right back at where we started!" Zane pointed out as he and Cole had only ended up back at Zane's cell again…because Cole was leading.

"Well, why don't you lead then, smart ass?" Cole huffed, but he didn't stop.

"Certainly. But Cole, I am not an ass; an ass is a part of the equine family, and I am not an equine of any sort."

But then the sudden sound of shrill hissing sounded and echoed off the walls of the tunnels; the source sounded like it was miles away, but Cole knew it wouldn't be long until SHE reaches them.

"Aw man…that's not a good sound. We need to run! NOW!"

But Zane was confused when he stood and watched Cole turn and run the other way.

"But I thought you said I could lead!"

"Trust me, Zane! You're gonna wanna keep up!"

And it was right then that Zane heard the rumbling in front of him, so he turned to see what Cole was talking about…but he regretted not running sooner when he saw the bright red eyes and purple and blue scaled jaws of Clouse's giant pet monster of a snake. So the robot wasted no time in sprinting after Cole.

But the two only got a few yards as they didn't expect to run into a blockade…made of dark purple scales.

"This isn't just some wooden blockade, Cole. It's the body of a large—serpent," Zane reluctantly pointed out.

"Get yer running shoes on, Zane!"

With that, they continued to sprint, but each time they figured they found another clear way, the monstrous snake only slithered into their path just before they could escape. And they soon found themselves trapped in a large circular chamber as the serpent slithered around and blocked each of the exits.

"Its strategy is to coil inward and trap us. She's very intelligent."

"Really? I haven't noticed! Thanks for the science lesson!" Cole shouted sarcastically as Clouse's pet continued to do just what Zane said, "I prefer NOT to be eaten!"

Suddenly another loud hiss was let out as they noticed that the snake was done coiling inward and was aiming to snap her jaws, only for them to dodge her when there was finally another way out. But the serpent didn't give up easily as it continued to stay on their tail, and they were soon unfortunately cornered at a real dead end.

When Cole and Zane skidded to a halt, they didn't want to turn around to see the large serpent as it revealed it's dark blue-scaled under belly to tower over them.

"Well…this certainly gives a whole new meaning to 'DEAD end', huh Zane?" Cole whimpered as Clouse's pet opened her huge jaws and flexed her deadly fangs.

Bu when She went to strike the experienced ninja, they dodged her jaws, as she suddenly crashed her huge head into the wall; temporarily dazing herself, and giving Zane to think of an escape route.

"P.I.X.A.L., calculate escape scenarios!"

"P.I.X.A.L.?! You got a GIRL in your head?!"

P.I.X.A.L. observed the current situation through Zane's eyes, and thought quickly.

"The most accurate and successful chance of escape calculated; activating explosive shurikens," P.I.X.A.L. commanded calmly, despite the giant snake in front of them, and Zane opened his hand as small bronze shurikens started to shoot out and pierce the ground, so Zane turned as they were being shot from his metal palm and surrounded Cole and himself with little bronze shurikens, each flashing with little red warning lights and rapidly beeping.

But the explosives soon went off just as the beast went to snap her jaws again, and she missed because Cole and Zane fell down a hole only big enough for them. And Clouse's pet wasn't happy that she just lost yet another easy snack as she glared through the hole and hissed when she saw the two men run off down another smaller tunnel.

* * *

The remaining Elemental Masters, the ninja and Garmadon were all gathered in Kai's room, as they had a little 'meeting' and Garmadon was keeping watch at the door so that no one got in or out.

"For the last damn time: I'm not joinin' your pathetic little team," Shadow growled as he shot a dark glare at everyone around the room.

"This isn't about the team; it's about cornering the spy, so no one leaves until he reveals himself," Lloyd said firmly as the other masters shared distrustful glances and Shadow was getting a pretty angry look from Lloyd's eyes.

"Why are you lookin' at me, Green Bean?"

"Kate, Neuro, couldn't you guys just use your mind reading powers?" Jay piped up.

"We tried, but something keeps interfering with our own brain waves," Kate said as she shook her head.

"And I can't help but shake the feeling it's a 'someone' not a 'something' that's causing the problem," Neuro added.

"I have an idea! Anyone who's ever worked for Chen will have the Anacondrai symbol tattoo," Garmadon pointed out as he remained guarding at the door.

"Any volunteers?" Lloyd asked while looking around at everyone, but no one said anything or moved at first.

But Neuro was actually the brave one to step up first. He pulled down the left side of his shirt to reveal the tattoo that Garmadon was talking about…only Neuro didn't have the tattoo.

"Can I go now?" Neuro asked as he adjusted his shirt and tried to leave, only for Lloyd to stop him.

"Not until we check everyone. The sooner everyone is honest, the sooner we can find the spy, and you can all leave," Lloyd explained firmly.

* * *

Chen was once again entertaining himself by watching his Kabuki dance around him elegantly as they flittered their fans and he lounged in his large, comfortable throne.

But he was not to enjoy the dancing alone for long as Clouse suddenly came in with his spell book.

"You'd better have a good reason to keep me from basking in this relaxing vibe, Clousey."

"I'm afraid I only bare bad news, Master. First of all, we're still looking for the escaped prisoner. And second, the page with the spell has been stolen."

"And this is my problem because why…?"

"Look, I don't need the page to perform the spell…but if that spell were to fall into the hands of the ninja, then the Elemental Masters will discover that we lied again, and they will only rise against us."

"Then find that page! Don't waste mine or your time telling me about the enigma!" Chen began angrily, but then he lifted up his arms to find Kabuki paint had been accidentally smeared all over his arms and torso, "oh, this shit gets everywhere!"

The entire time Chen and Clouse were talking, Nya was snooping around listening in on their conversation while remaining hidden behind a pillar. But she wasn't to remain perfectly covered for long when a random Kabuki spotted Nya and grabbed her hand to drag her out for Nya to dance. And Clouse couldn't help but notice that Nya had to be dragged out from hiding to perform.

"Master, I can't help but sense the aching presence of a spy."

"A spy? Among my staff? Interesting…" Chen said as he rubbed his fist to his chin and he was smiling evilly.

"Guards, search every Kabuki in this room!" Clouse suddenly called out to Chen's men that were all dressed in red cloaks, and they all soon started to frisk the dancers one by one; getting closer to Nya as she knew she was in trouble, so she only continued to move away from them.

You think Nya's in trouble? Let's get back to Darreth. The said man was listening to one of Elvis Presley's biggest hits on the radio as he was dancing around the DV-Express with a broom as a pretend guitar.

And he was only going to make things worse when he accidentally hit the lever that activated the P.A. system on the outside of the vehicle with his broom-guitar, so his singing and Elvis' music echoed through the cave, passed the water fall and out over Chen's island as everyone in Chen's temples could hear the music.

"Triangulate the signal of that ruckus, and then dispose of the annoying trespasser who dares play it on MY island!" Chen demanded his cronies, so they left his temple and the Kabuki went back to dancing…except for Nya who hasn't been frisked yet thanks to Darreth's mistake and tried to sneak away.

"Hey!"

Nya flinched when she heard Clouse raise his voice, so she quickly turned to find him glaring and pointing at his.

"You stay right Goddamn there."

* * *

The only ones left to check of the Anacondrai tattoo were Skylar and Shadow.

"C'mon, let's just go, Skylar!" Kai impatiently begged.

"You seriously don't trust me again? And right after I gave you your friends' message when I could've just given it to Clouse or Chen?" Skylar asked as her green eyes flared with flames of anger.

"Wait! Where'd Shadow go?" Kate questioned as they all suddenly noticed that Shadow was gone, and he was standing right next to Skylar just a second ago.

But it was then that Shadow appeared in the dark corner closest to the door.

"I ain't your spy! And I ain't a part of this!" Shadow growled as he once again became one with the shadows and disappeared. But it wasn't long before he lunged for the door, only for Garmadon to be able to stop him and grab him by his shoulders, so Shadow had no choice but to reappear.

"Ya know, you cast a pretty long shadow, old man!" Shadow grunted as he head-butted Garmadon's forehead and broke free to escape the room.

Now that Shadow has escaped, everyone now knew who the culprit was.

"I knew something about that guy rubbed me the wrong way," Lloyd pointed out with a glare as there was nothing else to do but leave Kai's room.

But speaking of Kai, he was trying to get Skylar's attention before she left too.

"Listen, Skylar…I'm-."

"Don't. Just don't. Just shut up and watch me walk out the door."

With that, the orange-clad red-head walked a few more feet forward, but before actually leaving, she pulled down the left side of her shirt, revealing the she also didn't have the tattoo.

"Our alliance is as safely supported as a Janga tower," Jay added sadly.

* * *

Chen was laying out on a comfortable love-seat as three kabuki were tending to him, and one of them was Nya as she was fanning him with a natural giant jungle leaf for a fan.

"Oh, how I love my Kabuki—because they love to serve me. Right?"

The first two Kabuki couldn't help but giggle like they're paid to, but Nya was a little reluctant as she sneered in disgust.

"Fan harder, you twit!"

But then Clouse came walking in with an expression that made Nya uncomfortable as she was also the last Kabuki with them when Chen dismissed the other two Kabuki.

"Have you found the spy's noisy location, Clouse?"

"I'm afraid not, Master. But don't worry—we shall soon find them and make them suffer," Clouse replied darkly as he also glared slowly up at Nya; making the poor woman gulp.

Darreth's joyful dance with a broom-guitar and Elvis' music wasn't to last long when Nya's voice frantically called on the radio: "Darreth! Darreth, they're coming for you!"

The phrase 'they're coming for you' was what managed to pull Darreth from his dance trance. So he started to panic as he dropped the broom, shut the music off and rush to press the right buttons on the front control panel.

"Oh, where the hell is that stupid cloaking thing?!" Darreth asked himself as he continued to search the buttons, "buttons REALLY need to be labeled these days!"

Meanwhile, a large group of angry Chen's cronies were either sprinting or driving Condrai-Crushers up to the waterfall, and at the same time, Darreth had finally found the cloaking button…but it was a struggle to find the right disguise.

And Darreth was running out of time as Chen's men had reach the cave entrance, and no matter how many times Darreth tried, he just kept failing; it went from Chen's food truck, to a circus train, to a giant rock that would've worked but Darreth was too stupid and pressed the button again, so he was caught in a green city bus.

But Darreth's little attempt to hide did give the guards all a good laugh, so while they were temporarily distracted with laughter, Darreth just thought 'screw it'.

Darreth started the vehicle, and then he punched the gas pedal; running over and killing or fatally injuring any one of Chen's guards he ran over. But now, it was a chase along the cliff-side as more of Chen's men came chasing after Darreth in fighter vehicles, and now a new vehicle: fighter jets with dark purple paint jobs and a snake-like design.

But despite being confident a second ago, Darreth was now actually panicking during the chase, so he started frantically pushing buttons. Eventually, he hit the auto-pilot button, and a little blue robot with orange goggles for eyes popped up and took the wheel.

"Alright! Go, little auto-pilot!" Darreth cheered as he pulled up his make-shift ninja mask on his make-shift, brown ninja suit.

And while the robot was driving, Darreth pulled out the vehicle's weapon panel, and started pushing buttons that activated a laser at the top, and he started firing at the guards behind him.

But when the DV-Express hit a big rock on the road, Darreth freaked out and missed; though, he did end up blasting large boulders at the top of the mountain, in which they came crashing down and smashing which ever unfortunate of Chen's cronies in their fighter vehicles or jets.

But the captain of the guard still remained, along with a few more luckier guards.

And Darreth's luck was to run out when the DV-Express was now coming up to the end of the cliff over raging ocean waters far down, and the auto-pilot did nothing but cover it's eyes.

"You are a TERRIBLE driver!" Darreth cried with fear, and no sooner had he said that, that gravity seemed to work with instead of against them when they came to the end, and the large red vehicle was balancing half-way off the edge like the trailer in Jurassic Park two with the two T-Rex parents.

So knowing he's a goner, Darreth used what ever time he had left before he would be captured to contact Nya, but he had bad timing.

Because when Darreth cried "That's it for me, Nya! My cover's been blown! You're on your own!" and his voice transmitted out of Nya's communication bracelet, she was still fanning Chen…so, she was a goner too.

"You! YOU'RE the spy!" Chen shouted for his (people)staff to hear, and when he grasped her arm in a vice grip, he noticed the spell rolled up and sticking out like a sore thumb in her pocket, "the spell! GET HER!"

But Chen didn't know Nya has lived with the ninja team, so he didn't expect Nya to kick him in the jaw, and send him flying back onto his love-seat.

And Chen was infuriated with her, especially when he spit up a tooth Nya kicked out, and that he found blood on his finger when he pressed it to his now bloody lips. So Chen grabbed his (stick)staff, and blasted rays of ice, in hopes of freezing Nya in her place. But Nya was more agile than Chen thought, so she was able to escape the room.

"FIND HER AND THE SPELL! YOU DO NOT REST UNTIL SHE IS FOUND!" Chen boomed.

Meanwhile, news of Nya the betraying Kabuki had soon already reached down underground, as two guards were talking about it while walking through the caverns.

"Did ya hear about that one Kabuki that went all hey-wire?"

"Yeah. But what about the escaped prisoners?"

"Oh, forget those poor saps."

But when the guards had rounded a corner, Zane and Cole came out of hiding when hearing their conversation.

"'Poor saps'? Who do they think they're talking about?" Cole questioned angrily.

"Hurry, Cole. The way out is just around the corner," Zane pointed out, but Cole didn't follow.

"Sorry buddy, but you'll have to go on your own if you want to continue; a ninja is supposed to help those who can't help themselves…so I gotta go back and save the rest of them."

"But a ninja also doesn't leave another ninja behind," Zane said with a smile as he caught up with Cole, and Cole smiled back.

"We WILL get off this island, Buddy; just not now. Not until we've saved the helpless."

* * *

Clouse had taken a convoy of guards with him outside the temple to look for Nya that night, but despite being Chen's right-hand man, Clouse didn't expect to round a corner and suddenly get sucker-punched in the face.

The one that landed the blow was Nya, as she suddenly made her escape literally using Clouse's head as a stepping stool, and bounding high up onto the temple rooftops the get away.

"Don't just stand there! GET HER!" Clouse roared at the guards with him, and so they soon went off with their lanterns to find Nya in the night.

But Clouse was smarter, and he recalled Nya jumping up onto the roofs, so he did the same, and he soon caught sight of her to and went leaping from building top to building top in pursue of her.

And it was so dark out, with clouds blocking the moon's light, the Nya didn't notice she was being followed up on yonder roofs. So just when she reached the last rooftop the would let her jump into the jungle, a large object came flying from the side, and knocked dazed her as they both tumbled onto the roof Nya was aiming for.

As Nya tried to shake the dizziness from her head, Clouse didn't wait for her as he suddenly pounced her and pinned her down beneath himself.

"Hey, you wouldn't hit a girl, would ya?" Nya grunted sarcastically as she tried to break free of Clouse's hold, but Clouse didn't go so easy on her.

"Oh, but of course I would; I've killed girls, in fact…little ones, even," Clouse growled with an evil grin.

"Well, only a coward man like you would make it an unfair fight," Nya hissed.

"I'm not a coward!"

And just as Clouse said that, Nya had managed to throw him off guard, and she kneed him in the stomach, and Nya flung him off of her, and then she was finally successful of jumping off and out into the jungle.

But as Clouse was able to stand up while still holding his gut with pain, he cursed the raven-head's name in a whisper.

* * *

One of the guards who was just down in the caverns who seemed to miss Cole and Zane hiding in the shadows had come up to the surface to bring bad news to Chen in his throne room.

"Did you find the loose prisoner?" Chen asked with high expectations.

"No. He had escaped with the metal man." But as the guards replied, his form seemed to change drastically with a bright purple aura surrounding him. When he was no longer engulfed in the purple aura, he was no longer a he…but rather Skylar.

"Don't worry, Skylar. The ninja WILL fall to us, just as Ninjago will as well," Chen reassured with a grin.

"But Father, what about…my sister?"

"Kate? She no longer means anything to me, and neither does her husband. Tomorrow, you will show the ninja NOR your sister mercy! And then—we take Ninjago!"

But as father and daughter were sharing an evil laugh together, they had no idea that a certain brunette with sparkling purple eyes was listening while using the Element of Shadows to cloak herself.

* * *

 **There is a Markiplier quote in here. Can anyone find it?**

 **Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!**


End file.
